QUINTILIAN.

M. Fabii Qvintiliani Oratoriarvm institvtionvm libri dvodecim : summa tum diligentia, tum iudicio, ad vetustissimorum quoru[m]q[ue] exemplariorum fidem recogniti, additis simul eiusdem declamationib[us] & eruditissimis, & stylo sui periculum facturis

      [Coloniae] : Eucharius Ceruicornus excudebat, , Anno M.D.XXVII. Mense Avg. [1527]. [Colphon reads: 'Coloniae impensa M. Godofridi Hydorpij, quarto nonas Augusti']. - Folio [size: x 11.75 inches] pagination: [8], 330, lacking only the final blank, else complete, woodcut head and tail pieces and initials, title page with decorative woodcut border incorporating figures, portraits and cherubs, bound in 19th Century continental black morocco backed marbled boards, spine gilt, corners leather tipped, boards slightly rubbed at edges, internally with light browning and a few light waterstains, but very sound throughout, some early ink marginalia, including a few early names on the title page, an old and indecipherable small round stamp on the final leaf, overall a good sound copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, an attractive humanist printing by Gottfried Hittorp in Cologne, of this great Latin work of oratorical education and learning which played a key role in the Renaissance revival of classical texts. As usual the 12 books of the 'Institutes' by Quintilian are followed by the 19 Books of Declamations, a work which is probably spurrious, though hardly less significant as a tool in the teaching of Classical Latin. This edition, probably modelled on the Aldus printing of a few years earlier, was edited for the press by Gerard Bucoldianus, a leading humanist scholar in Cologne at this period, whose dedication to the printer Hittorp follows the title page and is dated August 1527. An important and outstanding edition of this great text. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]