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LUCAN (Marcus Annæus Lucanus) : PHARSALIA SIVE DE BELLO CIVILI CÆSARIS ET POMPEII LIB. X

J. Blaeu, Amsterdam, 1643

Sm. 8vo. (5 1/16 x 3 1/8 inches), contemporary tan calf, double blind fillets with blind blocked corner fleurons; spine with four raised bands and a manuscript paper label; all edges stained red. On the front free endleaf is a woodcut ownership stamp of a ram in profile standing on a platform above the name Sheppard, encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves. Below this mark is the large woodcut number 23. The Thornton Hall Library, Buckinghamshire, belonging to the family of Sheppard (later Sheppard-Cotton, baronets) had a distinctive library mark. We note their copy of Lord Bacon's The Twoo Bookes...of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning [1605] sold at the Garden sale (lot 83) in which the mark appears above the number 20. It also appears in a copy of Erasmus’s Adagiorum [1666] above the number 21 (the latter copy is in our possession; alas, the Bacon is not).The engraved title credits the commentary of Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) and Thomas Farnaby. Lucan's Pharsalia, an epic about the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey in 10 books, is the author's only surviving work; he was only 25 when he took his own life. Lucan was, like Brutus and Cassius before him, an aristocrat and a rebel; like them, he regretted the lost republic and hated the regime of the Cæsars. He joined Piso's conspiracy against Nero and was denounced and, like Seneca, was ordered to commit suicide. Lucan was very popular during the Middle Ages, but his work has fallen to criticism owing to what has been called his exaggerated treatment of the war between Cæsar and Pompey.A very nice copy of a somewhat scarce book; OCLC First Search lists seven copies.

WITH A HANDSOME INK OWNERSHIP DEVICE

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