Sallustius Crispus, Gaius [i.e., Sallust]

Salvstius.

      [Lugduni {i.e., Lyons}: The Aldine Forger, 1504]. Small 8vo. [116] ff. Aldine forgery and expectedly scarce. Printed sans the Aldine device, which Aldus began to use in 1502, but offering a clear knock-off of his famous italic type, this also displays his characteristic initial spaces with guide letters. The text was edited by Thomas Murchius (a.k.a., B. Fidelis). The editor's dedication is dated June, 1504. Rare: COPAC locates only the copy at the University of Manchester library, but we trace other U.K. copies in the British Library and Cambridge University library. In the U.S. and Canada the only copies we find are at the UCLA and the Pierpont Morgan libraries. Provenance: Ownership signatures on the front free endpaper: "J. Turner, 1790" and "John S. Conner / North Bend Ohio / Oct. 18th 1877." Renouard 48:10 and 308:22; Baudrier, VII, 20; Adams S137; Shaw 44; Aldine Press. Catalogue of the Aldine Collection, UCLA, 1115. Full dark walnut modern calf old style: Spine with raised bands accented with gilt and blind rules, the blind ones extending onto covers to terminate in trefoils; burgundy leather author label and gilt date; gilt tools to spine compartments. Blind double fillets framing covers. Heavy browning to the first two and a half signatures and again in the last gathering; minor worm damage to blank area of title-leaf; additional dampstaining, mainly though not exclusively to margins, more often than "occasionally" and yet not quite "throughout." Withal, a reputable copy of a notable forgery.