Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Printed Books and Manuscripts to 1700
Lot 34
VIRGIL (PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARO). 70-19 BCE. 3 titles related to Virgil and the Georgicks, including:
1. Opera. Paris: Typographia Regia (Imprimerie Royale), 1641.
1. Opera. Paris: Typographia Regia (Imprimerie Royale), 1641.
13 December 2022, 11:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$637.50 inc. premium
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VIRGIL (PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARO). 70-19 BCE.
3 titles related to Virgil and the Georgicks, including:
1. Opera. Paris: Typographia Regia (Imprimerie Royale), 1641.
Folio (374 x 260 mm). Half-title, engraved title-page by Mellan after Poussin. 18th century mottled calf, spine with 6 raised bands, modern cloth chemise and quarter Morocco slipcase. Joints cracking, rubbed and bumped, margins trimmed with slight loss of lower border of title-page, lacking final leaf with printer's device and two blanks at back.
The Imprimerie Royale was founded by Louis XIII in 1640, issuing as their first imprint De imitatione Christi that year. This 1641 Virgil is believed to be their second publication. The engraved title-page features Apollo placing a crown of laurel on the head of Virgil.
2. Georgicorum Libri Quator and Bucolicorum Eclogae Decem. London: Richard Reily for T. Osborne, 1741/1749.
2 volumes. 4to (284 x 222 mm). Engraved frontispiece in volume II, 10 engraved plates (eight hand-colored) and 5 maps (3 hand-colored). Contemporary calf, spines with 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, modern clamshell cases. Scuffing, upper joints tender, bookplates on front paste-downs, ownership inscriptions, minor browning and spotting.
FIRST EDITION, translated and edited by botanist John Martyn, who included some botanical plates among the illustrations. The first volume (Georgicorum) of this set has all plates and maps hand-colored, while those in the second volume (Bucolicorum) are not colored. 19th century owner's inscriptions of Thomas Yarde, of Chudleigh, appear in both volumes, along with inked notes regarding this edition, quoted from other authors. Hunt 517 (Georgicorum only).
3. MAILLOL, ARISTIDE, illustrator. 1861-1944. Les Georgiques. Paris: Phillipe Gonin, 1937-1943 [1950].
2 volumes. 4to (325 x 242 mm). 122 wood engraved plates by Maillol, on paper watermarked "Maillol/Gonin" produced for this edition, with additional suite of 10 proof engravings on chine with artist's "M" stamp, in paper folder labeled: "premiere etats s/chine." Publisher's printed wrappers, original vellum backed paper chemises, with 4 Maillol woodcuts to covers and endpapers of volume 2, original illustrated slipcases, decorated with 9 wood engraved illustrations by Maillol, tear to paper at foot of slipcase, volume 1.
MAILLOL'S GEORGIQUES, WITH ADDITIONAL SUITE OF PROOFS, number 714 of 750 copies of his final work. Publisher and friend Phillipe Gonin released a prospectus for the work in 1939, believing that Maillol would be finished within months. However, Maillol would not complete the final plate until 1944, just before his death, and Gonin would not complete the publication until 1950. "In 1908, returning from Greece with Kessler, Maillol stopped at Naples and Pompeii and executed a few drawings. Shortly thereafter he cut the first block for the Georgica and was able to save it from a fire in 1915 which destroyed his Montval studio. In the following years he made a few other cuts for this volume, which Kessler was unable to complete as a companion to the Eclogae [The Artist & the Book 172]. In 1937 Gonin urged Maillol to resume his work, and the last block was delivered to the publisher in September 1944, shortly before the artist's death. Most of the cuts were executed by craftsmen after Maillol's drawings on the block, since at that time his eyes were not strong enough for the cutting" (The Artist and the Book 175).
1. Opera. Paris: Typographia Regia (Imprimerie Royale), 1641.
Folio (374 x 260 mm). Half-title, engraved title-page by Mellan after Poussin. 18th century mottled calf, spine with 6 raised bands, modern cloth chemise and quarter Morocco slipcase. Joints cracking, rubbed and bumped, margins trimmed with slight loss of lower border of title-page, lacking final leaf with printer's device and two blanks at back.
The Imprimerie Royale was founded by Louis XIII in 1640, issuing as their first imprint De imitatione Christi that year. This 1641 Virgil is believed to be their second publication. The engraved title-page features Apollo placing a crown of laurel on the head of Virgil.
2. Georgicorum Libri Quator and Bucolicorum Eclogae Decem. London: Richard Reily for T. Osborne, 1741/1749.
2 volumes. 4to (284 x 222 mm). Engraved frontispiece in volume II, 10 engraved plates (eight hand-colored) and 5 maps (3 hand-colored). Contemporary calf, spines with 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, modern clamshell cases. Scuffing, upper joints tender, bookplates on front paste-downs, ownership inscriptions, minor browning and spotting.
FIRST EDITION, translated and edited by botanist John Martyn, who included some botanical plates among the illustrations. The first volume (Georgicorum) of this set has all plates and maps hand-colored, while those in the second volume (Bucolicorum) are not colored. 19th century owner's inscriptions of Thomas Yarde, of Chudleigh, appear in both volumes, along with inked notes regarding this edition, quoted from other authors. Hunt 517 (Georgicorum only).
3. MAILLOL, ARISTIDE, illustrator. 1861-1944. Les Georgiques. Paris: Phillipe Gonin, 1937-1943 [1950].
2 volumes. 4to (325 x 242 mm). 122 wood engraved plates by Maillol, on paper watermarked "Maillol/Gonin" produced for this edition, with additional suite of 10 proof engravings on chine with artist's "M" stamp, in paper folder labeled: "premiere etats s/chine." Publisher's printed wrappers, original vellum backed paper chemises, with 4 Maillol woodcuts to covers and endpapers of volume 2, original illustrated slipcases, decorated with 9 wood engraved illustrations by Maillol, tear to paper at foot of slipcase, volume 1.
MAILLOL'S GEORGIQUES, WITH ADDITIONAL SUITE OF PROOFS, number 714 of 750 copies of his final work. Publisher and friend Phillipe Gonin released a prospectus for the work in 1939, believing that Maillol would be finished within months. However, Maillol would not complete the final plate until 1944, just before his death, and Gonin would not complete the publication until 1950. "In 1908, returning from Greece with Kessler, Maillol stopped at Naples and Pompeii and executed a few drawings. Shortly thereafter he cut the first block for the Georgica and was able to save it from a fire in 1915 which destroyed his Montval studio. In the following years he made a few other cuts for this volume, which Kessler was unable to complete as a companion to the Eclogae [The Artist & the Book 172]. In 1937 Gonin urged Maillol to resume his work, and the last block was delivered to the publisher in September 1944, shortly before the artist's death. Most of the cuts were executed by craftsmen after Maillol's drawings on the block, since at that time his eyes were not strong enough for the cutting" (The Artist and the Book 175).