£450
8vo, pp. [xiv], 161, [1, ads]. Eighteenth-century French crushed red morocco, boards bordered with a triple gilt rule, spine divided by triple gilt rules, tall olive morocco label, other compartments with central flower tools gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Some spotting, a few paper flaws, thin dampmark to fore-edge at beginning. Binding just lightly marked and scratched. Modern bookplate to front pastedown.
The first British printing of the Delphin edition of Eutropius, edited by the significant female classical scholar Anne Dacier (c.1650-1720), here credited as the daughter of Tanneguy Le Fevre, whose friendship with the general editor of the Delphin series helped her obtain the work. The edition was first published in Paris in 1683 and this is the first Oxford reprinting of any of the series, following about a dozen of the more popular titles issued in London over the previous decade. It is scarcer than most of those as well, with ESTC locating 5 copies in the UK outside of Oxford (plus 5 in), and half a dozen more between Ireland, Germany, and the USA. Sometime after publication this copy found its way back to France where it acquired its attractive and nicely preserved binding.
