1637 ELZEVIR EDITION OF JOHN BARCLAY’S EUPHORMIO’S SATYRICON, COPY BELONGING TO EDWIN WOLF II

BARCLAY, John. Euphormionis Lusinini sive Joannis Barclaii Satyricon Partes Quinque. Leiden: Apud Elzevirios, 1637. Thick 12mo, early 19th-century full red morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $350.

First Elzevir edition of all five parts of Barclay’s Euphormion, “full of lively incidents and satirical descriptions of contemporary people and institutions,” very finely printed, with engraved allegorical title page.

First published in five separate parts from 1605 to 1624, Barclay’s first novel followed Petronius as a model of characterization and plot, and as a result, his Euphormion is much like Petronius—“full of lively incidents and satirical descriptions of contemporary people and institutions, somewhat episodic in plot, indeed containing some of the same plot elements, such as witches, a parody of literary criticism, and the search for a free meal” (Van Gorcum). It is a satire directed against the Jesuits, the medical profession, contemporary scholarship, education and literature. In his Apology (1610) Barclay admits that in writing Euphormion his “juvenile desire of fame incited me to attack the whole world.” The first collected edition of all five parts appeared in Oxford in 1634. This is the first Elzevir printing. In 1629 Bonaventura and Abraham Elzevir expanded the family printing business (begun at the University of Leiden in 1592) by initiating their famed pocket editions of Latin classics. The aim was to ensure wide circulation of accurate texts for everyday use. These books were printed with engraved title pages, narrow margins and a distinctive font of type, designed by Christoffel van Dijck, derivations of which have been employed by subsequent printers for centuries. Willems 452. Copinger 211. Brunet I:652. Graesse I:291. From the library of noted bookman and librarian Edwin Wolf II, with his monogram and bibliographic notations.

Text fine, foxing to endpapers only. An attractive volume from this renowned press, in extremely good condition.