Traité de l'éloquence

Folio volume of 62 leaves, (1) blank leaf, (3) leaves, 163 leaves, (7) leaves of index. Black morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt-stamped coat of arms in the center, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and crowned emblems with the Polish double-headed eagle gilt-stamped in the compartments, double gilt fillet on the edges, citron morocco lining, wide gilt-tooled inner dentelle, gilt edges over marbling, very skillful and minimal restoration to the upper cap. 18th-century binding by Padeloup.

331 x 222 mm.

Cicero. De Oratore ad quintum fratrem, three dialogues.
Paris, Michel Vascosan, 1540.

Beautiful humanist edition of Cicero’s Dialogues on Politics, important for the commentary by Jacques-Louis d’Estrebay, better known by his Latin name Strebaeus. Born in Estrebay, in the Ardennes, he was a professor in Reims and commented on classical texts of Antiquity, particularly Aristotle and Cicero.

Printed in Paris by Michel Vascosan, this edition is adorned with large Renaissance portico-style borders at the head of each book and 6 magnificent and large historiated decorative initials featuring a crowned dolphin, fleur-de-lis, fauns with armorial bearings, and a Renaissance portrait.

Cicero was one of the most studied authors by Renaissance humanists, and “Ciceronianism” became a true intellectual movement in the modern study of rhetoric in the 16th century.

“De Oratore,” Cicero’s masterpiece on rhetoric, presents Crassus and Antonius in dialogue form.

In it Cicero develops his theory of the art of speech, based on knowledge and eloquence, which therefore requires from the orator intelligence, wide learning, mastery of different forms of eloquence, and those natural qualities concerning delivery—that is, the manner of presenting and pronouncing the discourse—without which, he says, the speaker will have no power over the audience’s soul.

Reference: Michel Magnien, “Rhetoric Reconsidered” in “History of Rhetoric in Modern Europe.” pp. 343 and 356.

Magnificent ruled copy bound by Padeloup in black morocco, lined with citron morocco, bearing the arms and emblems of Count d’Hoym, “a humanist of the seventeenth century,” a great bibliophile, minister plenipotentiary of Poland in France, whose prestigious library was dispersed in 1738.

Most of his books were bound by Padeloup. This one bears the rare binder’s label, pasted under the publisher’s imprint.

“Count d’Hoym, minister plenipotentiary to Augustus II, King of Poland, was a knight of the Order of the White Eagle of Poland. He was a distinguished bibliophile. It was Abbé Rothelin who inspired his love of books. From 1717 to 1735 he collected in sales the rarest, finest, and most precious volumes. His library was so famous that Lenglet Dufresnoy wrote: ‘It could rightly be considered one of the wonders of literature’” (Guigard. Nouvel armorial du bibliophile, II, 260).

From the libraries of Robert Hoe and Raphaël Esmérian, with bookplates.