LUCRETIUS CARUS, Titus. Titi Lucretii Cari de rerum natura libri sex
Birminghamae: Johannis Baskerville, 1773.
£ 400
Second Edition. 12mo (17.5 x 11 cm), A-S6, S1; 214 pp. [3]. Title page. Roman and Italic type. Contemporary manuscript inscription on p. 1 (Edward Baston TCD) and manuscript verse numbers throughout by the same hand. Ex-libris of George F. Timpson glued on top pastedown. Marbled endpapers. Crisp white paper. Contemporary calf with single fillet gold-tooled border; slightly rounded corners. Spine in six compartments with five raised bands with blind-stamped floral decoration. Gilt label on red morocco. Excellent copy.
The book contains Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), a first-century BC didactic poem which was written to explain Epicurean philosophy to the contemporary Roman audience.