Beschreibung:

HORATIUS FLACCIUS, Quintus (65-8 B.C.). Opera . Edited by Pierre Didot l'aîné (1760-1853). Paris: P. Didot l'aîné , 1799. 2° (475 x 341mm). PRINTED ON VELLUM. Half-title. Limitation leaf printed in gold on vellum, manuscript cancellans slip on paper pasted over limitation statement on a2v. Title vignette and 11 engraved headpieces by H. Marais, Abraham Girardet Jacques-Joseph Coiny and François-Joseph-Étienne Beisson after Charles Percier printed on india and mounted together with the original pen-and-ink and wash drawings by Percier, 5 drawings in reverse, the engravings and drawings within printed gilt borders and captioned in ink within printed gilt cartouches. (Occasional light discolouration, heavier at the extremities of the margins, some cockling of the vellum, affecting drawings and prints.) Bound for Botfield by Charles Lewis c.1830; gold-tooled blue straight-grained morocco, sides panelled with interlacing strapwork interspersed with palmette and other tools, spine similarly tooled in compartments, lettered in 3, silver-gilt fore-edge clasps designed by Thomas Willement [cf. P. & F. Acquisitions], the mounts formed of cornucopiae, the clasps a lyre within laurel wreath, mounts and clasps London 1830, with maker's mark 'W.T.', broad turn-ins gilt with repeat palmette tools, vellum pastedowns with dense field of gilt foliate ovals alternately enclosing a 'B' and a foliate tool, vellum endleaves gilt with broad palmette borders and backed with paper, gilt and gauffered edges (a few minor scuff marks), maroon straight-grained gilt morocco box (case lightly rubbed and bumped at extremities, lock defective). Provenance : Andoche Junot, duc d'Abrantès (1771-1813, limitation leaf stating that this copy, one of two on vellum, was specially selected and prepared for him; his sale, Evans, 19 June 1816, lot 108, £140) -- George Hibbert (1757-1837, his sale, Evans, 16 March 1829, lot 4171, £83.3.00, to Pickering) -- Beriah Botfield, brought from Payne & Foss for £100 (P. & F. Acquisitions; very finely painted armorial in gilt and colours on front free endleaf by Thomas Willement . ONE OF TWO COPIES PRINTED ON VELLUM OF DIDOT'S 'TRèS-BELLE éDITION' (BRUNET), THIS PREPARED FOR JUNOT AND WITH PERCIER'S ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, IN A BINDING THAT LEWIS CONSIDERED HIS 'CHEF D'OEUVRE'. In 1797 the Ministry of the Interior granted Pierre Didot l'ainé the site in the Louvre previously occupied by the royal press, where Didot produced his celebrated editions of Virgil, Horace and Racine in 1798, 1799 and 1801 respectively. These editions were considered by Edmond Werdet 'chefs-d'oeuvre qui resteront au nombre des plus beaux monuments dont s'honore notre patrie' ( Études bibliographiques sur la famille des Didot (Paris: 1864), p.20), and were esteemed not only for their typographic beauty, but also that of their illustration. Didot's Horace was published in an edition of 250 copies; of these, the first 100 were illustrated with proofs on india of the engravings, and in addition there were two copies printed on vellum, of which the present copy included the original drawings and was prepared for Andoche Junot, one of Napoleon's leading generals and the owner of a library particularly rich in works by Didot and Bodoni printed on vellum. These finely-finished drawings for the 'douze charmantes vignettes' (Brunet) that decorate the work are by Charles Percier (1764-1838), an architect, draughtsman and drawing-master who was a key figure in the birth and development of the empire style, integrating the classical influences that he absorbed through his study of ancient architecture (particularly during a period of five years in Rome), with contemporary taste. The illustrations for Horace's Opera complement the neo-classical restraint of Didot's typography with the nicest discrimination, and this edition won the praise of critics as exacting as Brunet and T.F. Dibdin, the latter stating that 'This splendid edition is adorned with twelve very beaut