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A very nice set of 12 of Lipsius's most important works on Ancient Roman history, together with his 'Mirror of Princes' and his letters, all published during his lifetime by Joan. Moretus

LIPSIUS, Justus.
Collection of 12 important works uniformly bound in contemporary blind tooled pigskin, in 3 vols.









Antwerp, Ex Officina Plantiniana, Joannes Moretus, 1596-1605. 3 vols. Large 4to. Original blind tooled pigskin over bevelled wooden boards (bound shortly after 1605), with three different rolls around a central panel with decorative roll, divided by triple lines: (1) roll with 4 scenes from the life of Christ with the captions 'Satisfa', 'Hic est', 'Ecce ag(nus Dei)', and 'Iustifi'; (2): roll with 4 portraits of Paul, David, and Christ with 4 captions: 'Apparuit benignit(as)', 'Ecce agnu(s) Dei qui to(llit)' (=Gospel acc. to John, I:29); 'Data est mihi omn(is)' (=Gospel acc. to Matth. I:18, and 'De fructu ventrist(uo)' (=Psalm 131:11); (3) roll with 4 different small portraits in roundels with coats-of-arms; the original brass clasps on leather thongs and catches, ribbed spines, two of them with two slips of yellow paper with the titles of Lipsius's works written in a neat Humanistic hand.

Nice set containing 12 of Lipsius's most important works on the ancient Roman world: antiquities, customs, army, and philosophy, together with his famous 'Mirror of Princes' and his letters, all published by the Plantin Office, all during Lipsius's lifetime, and bound immediately after 1605.
Justus Lipsius (1547-1606), one of the leading classical scholars and humanists of the Low Countries in the second half of the sixteenth century, studied first with the Jesuits in Cologne and later at the Catholic University of Louvain. After completing his education he visited Rome, in his new position as secretary to Cardinal Granvelle, staying for two years in order to study the ancient monuments and explore the unsurpassed libraries of classical literature. In 1572 Lipsius's property in Belgium was taken by Spanish troops during the civil war and without property, Lipsius applied for a position at the Lutheran University of Jena. This was the first of a number of institutional moves that required Lipsius to change his publicly professed faith. His new colleagues at Jena remained sceptical of this radical transformation and Lipsius was eventually forced to leave Jena after only two years in favour of Cologne. In 1576 Lispius returned to Catholic Louvain. However after his property was looted by soldiers a second time he fled again in 1579, this time to the Calvinist University of Leiden. He remained at Leiden for thirteen years and it is to this period that his two most famous books - De Constantia Libri Duo (1584) and Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae Libri Sex (see nr. 5) - belong. However, Lipsius was by upbringing a Catholic and eventually he sought to return to Louvain, via a brief period in Liège. In 1592 Lipsius accepted the Chair of Latin History and Literature at Louvain. To this final period belong his editorial work on Seneca and his two detailed studies of Stoicism, the Manuductio ad Stoicam Philosophiam and Physiologia Stoicorum (see nr. 7). Lipsius was a personal friend of Plantin, Raphelengius and Moretus, who published nearly all his works for the first time (2 of these first editions in this collection: nrs. 3 and 7). The first four works are nicely illustrated with engravings by Theodore Galle, Pieter van der Borcht and others.

Provenance: The set belonged to the library of the monastery Augiae Minoris (Minderau, or Weissenau, near Ravensburg in OberSchwaben) of the Praemonstratenses: ownership's entries on the first titles of the 3 volumes ('Monasterii Weissenavensis'; Ad usum fratrum Augiae Minoris').

Contents:

Vol. 1:
- 1. Saturnalium Sermonum Libri Duo, qui de gladiatoribus. Editio ultima, & castigatissima.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1604. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title, and  4 folding engr. plates, and 12 engravings in text (8 of which on 4 plates), partly by Th. Galle. 136, (4) pp. The second Moretus edition of this famous work on Roman gladiators, a re-edition of the first of 1598, dedicated to Busbequius and containing a letter by Lipsius to Christ. Plantin. The plates are copies of the earlier editions (first edition 1582). Bibl. Belg. L 509.

- 2. De Militia Romana Libri Quinque, commentarius ad Polybium. Editio tertia, aucta variè & castigata.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1602. Including the separately published Appendix: Analecta sive observantiones reliquae ad militiam et hosce libros (also: Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1602.  With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title (the Appendix with the device as on the title of the 1596 edition), folding engraved plate, 17 small woodcut illustrations and 5 full-page and 8 half-page engravings in text by Th. Galle. 366, (2, blank); XXIX, (7) pp. The third Moretus edition, dedicated to King Philips III, of Lipsius's work on the Roman army and military affairs, at the same time a commentary on the Greek historian Poybius (ca. 203-120 BC, of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories covering in detail the period of 220-146 BC, esp. the (military) history of Rome. The first edition of Lipsius's work was published by Plantin in 1595-96. Bibl. Belg. L 371.

- 3. Poliorceticoon sive de machinis tormentis. telis. Libri quinque. Ad historiarum lucem.
Antwerp, the widow of Plantin & Joannes Moretus, 1596. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title (and another one on the recto of the last leaf), and 14 half-page and 19 full-page engravings, probably by Pieter vander Borcht. (16), 267, (9) pp. This is the first edition of this highly interestinmg work on instruments, machines and and pieces of equipment, useful and neccessary for sieges, such as scaling ladders, battering-rams, catapults, etc. The account is written in the form of dialoques with his friends in Liège where he stayed with Jean Furius after his return from Holland and before he settled in Louvain. Bibl. Belg. L 424.

- 4. De Amphitheatro Liber, In quo forma ipsa loci expressa, & ratio spectandi. Omnia auctiora vel meliora.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1598.  With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title (and another one on the recto of the last leaf), and 2 folding engr. plates (one large), 5 full-page and one half-page engravings in the text, including two full-page plates of a very remarkably amphitheatre at Doué on the confines of the provinces of Anjou et Poitou. Pp. 57-77 with separate title page (De amphitheatris quae extra Romam libellus. Antwerp, Joan. Moterus, 1598). 77, (7, including the mostly lacking last leaf with extra printer's device) pp. This is the fifth enlarged edition with plates copied from the 1589 edition. The first edition appeared in Leiden and Antwerp in 1584. Bibl. Belg. L 140.

Vol. 2:
- 5. Politicorum, sive civilis doctrinae libri sex. Qui ad Principatum maximè spectant. Additae notae auctiores, tum & De una religione liber. Omnia postremo auctor recensuit.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1604. With engraved printer's devices of the Officina Plantiniana on titles.  224, 103, (5) pp. Pp. 1-103 with separate title-page (Ad Libros Politicorum notae, et De una religione liber ...); Pp. 65-103 also with separate title-page, suggesting that these part have alsio been published separately: De una religione, adversus Dialositam liber. In quo tria capita libri quarti Politicorum explicantur.  This is the sixth edition 'ex officina Plantiniana', the first was published in 1589; many editions followed. also published at aother places untill fat into the seventeenth century. It is one of Lipsius's best known works: a 'Mirror for princes' to instruct kings or lesser rulers on certain aspects of rule and behaviour including many citations of classical authors. The part on religion (De una religione liber) brought him into conflict with the Dutch champion of tolerance Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert. Bibl. Belg. L 439.

- 6. Admiranda, sive de magnitudine Romana libri quattuor.. Secunda editio correctior, auctiorque.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1599. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title. 209, (7) pp. Second enlarged Moretus edition, published one year after the first (1598), of Lipsius's extensive work on the greatness of the Roman Empire in the form of dialoques with one of his pupils.  Bibl. Belg. L 128.

- 7. Manuductionis ad Stoicam philosophiam libri tres: L. Annaeo Senecae, aliisque scriptoribus illustrandis. Together with his Physiologiae Stoicorum libri tres: L. Annaeo Senecae, aliisque scriptoribus illustrandis (with separate title-page).
Antwerp, Jopan. Moretus, 1604. With engraved printer's devices of the Officina Plantiniana on titles. (12), 212, (4); (12), 188, (8) pp. First edition of both works published together on the Stoic philosophy. In the first Lipsius gives a general overview of the philosophy, expanding on its doctrines more extensively in the second. Bibl. Belg. L 513.

Vol. 3:
- 8. Epistolarum selectarum centuria I-III Miscellanea.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1605. With engraved printer's devices of the Officina Plantiniana on titles.  (8), 213, (3); (8), 108, (4) pp.  The first 3 parts of the miscellaneous letters published during Lipsius's lifetime (Cent. IV-V: published posthumously). The correspondents include Abraham Ortelius, Andraeas Schottus, Carolus Clusius, Franciscus Raphelengius, Janus Douza, Janus Grotius, Janus Gruterus, Jan van Hoput, Josephus Scaliger, and Dirk Canter. Bibl. Belg. L 257 (Cent I-V).

- 9. Epistolarum selectarum centuria I-III ad Belgas.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1605. With engraved printer's devices of the Officina Plantiniana on titles. (8), 102, (2); (8), 100; (8), 118, (2) pp. Second edition (first: 1602) of Lipsius's letters to his correspondents in the Low Countries, including Enricus Puteanus, Janus Lernutius, Joannes Vivianus, Petrus Scriverius, Abraham Ortelius, Balthasar & Joannes Moretus, Cornelius Kiliaen, Hugo Grotius, and Otto Vaenius. Bibl. Belg. L 246.

- 10. Epistolarum selectarum centuria singularis ad Italos & Hispanos, quive in iis locis.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1604. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title. (8), 92, (4). Second edition (first 1601) of Lipsius's letters to his Italian and Spanish correspondents, including Balthasar de Zininga, Gaspar Schoppius, Robertus Bellarmino, etc. Bibl. Belg. L 239.

- 11. Epistolarum selectarum centuria singularis ad Germanos & Gallos.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1605. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title. (8), 79 pp.  Second edition (first 1602) of Lipsius's letters to his German and French correspondents, including Domenicus Baudius, Isaac Casaubonus, etc. Bibl. Belg. L 242.

- 12. Epistolica Institutio, excepta è dictantis eius ore, anno 1586 mense Junio. Adiuctum est Demetrii Phalerei eiusdem argumenti scriptum. Editio ultima.
Antwerp, Joan. Moretus, 1605. With engraved printer's device of the Officina Plantiniana on title.  23 pp. Page-for-page reprint of the Antwerp 1601 edition (first edition Leiden 1591) of Lipsius's account on the art of writing letters (pp. 3-18); added the Greek text with facing Latin translation of Demetrius Phelereus's text on the same subject ('De elocutione'; pp. 19-23.  Bibl. Belg. L 337.

Good uniformly bound set.- (Vol. 1: first lvs. with wormholes; Vol. 3: some spotting in the beginning, one clasp lacking; wormholes; bindings a bit rubbed).

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Antiques  Classical Antiquity  History  Philosophy  Plantin  Rome 

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