11 “The World Is So Malicious, That If We Take Not Heede To Prepare Against His Wrinches, It Will Overthrow Us To Our Greater Losse And Hurte” 09(BOURCHIER, John) AURELIUS, Marcus. The Golden Booke of Marcus Aurelius. London, 1586. Small thick 12mo, early 20th-century full red morocco. $6000 Later edition of Bourchier’s translation of Antonio de Guevara’s Libro aureo, collecting incidents and letters from the life of Marcus Aurelius, one of the most widely read and translated books of the 16th century. Antonio de Guevara served as the royal chronicler Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. His 1528 Libro áureo, a history of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius that included letters and works by him, was one of the most popular works in the 16th century in Europe; it was almost immediately translated into many other languages, and was one of the main engines for the renewed focus on the Roman philosopher king. John Bourchier’s translation was first published in 1534; it precedes Meric Causubon’s esteemed translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations by exactly 100 years. Text trimmed close, occasionally touching headlines only; a bit of faint dampstaining, interior generally quite clean. Handsomely bound. “The First Of Its Kind”: Rare First Complete Divine Comedy In English, 1802 10DANTE. (BOYD, Henry, translator). The Divina Commedia… Consisting of the Inferno—Purgatorio—and Paradiso. London, 1802. Three volumes. Octavo, modern full maroon straightgrained morocco gilt. $11,000 First edition of the first English translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, significant for “assisting to reestablish an audience for Dante, whose reputation had suffered a decline in the previous century” (ODNB), with frontispiece portrait of Dante by Thomas Stothard. The first English translation of the whole Divina Commedia of Dante, with Boyd’s attempt to capture Dante’s terza rima, which in English is extremely difficult to sustain. In 1785, Boyd had published his translation of the Inferno alone, “the first of its kind” (DNB). This printing also contains preliminary essays and notes to each of the three books. Lowndes, 589. CBEL III:229. Scattered light foxing, a few marginal stains, expert repair to leaf Q3 in Volume III; beautifully bound.
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