HORACE. Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera. London, John... Lot 23

HORACE. Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera. London, John Pine, 1733-1737, 2 vol. gr. in-8°, red morocco, large repeating decoration of flowers inscribed in lozenges on a background of gold stippling, mosaic of lemon, blue and green morocco, ribbed spines decorated with the same, lining and endpapers of blue tabis, gilt edges (Bound by J.A. DEROME rue S. Jacque). Collation : T. I : 16 ff. (frontispiece, 1 f. title, 1 f. dedication, 1 f. Avis au lecteur, 9 ff. List of subscribers, 3 ff. Life of Horace), 265 pp, 1 f. not included in the pagination, between pp. 176 and 177 with an engraving on r° / T. II: 12 ff (frontispiece, 1 title page, 1 dedication page, 9 ff. List of subscribers), 191 pp, 4 ff. not included in the pagination (between pp. 48/49, 94/95, 152/153, 172/173), and 9 ff. n. ch. Entirely engraved, under the direction of J. Pine, illustrated with 2 fleurons, 2 frontispieces, 324 illustrations, large figures and subject-oriented culs-de-lampe, not to mention 27 headpieces and 164 beautiful initials. There is a long list of subscribers, 50 in Paris, some of whom received several copies, including two booksellers, M. Pilsot and M. Rollin. Copy cited by Cohen, ruled, with the error corrected on p. 108 of the second volume. Exceptional mosaic binding by Jacques-Antoine Derome (1696-1760). Cited by Louis-Marie Michon, it was, according to the historian of mosaic binding in the 18th century, one of only five to bear the label of the great bookbinder. This list has since grown, with Giles Barber identifying four more. It belonged to the Baron de La Roche Lacarelle. Reproduced in his catalog by the Porquet bookshop, it is described as follows: "Merveilleuse reliure... One of J.A. Derome's masterpieces". Its design is reminiscent of some of Padeloup's work. The two volumes have been preserved in 18th-century red morocco boxes designed for them; they thus come to us in superb condition, albeit with a few small traces of rubbing to the spines of Volume I. Dimensions: 227 x 142 mm. Provenance: conte della Trinità, with his bookplate. Probably Filiberto Remigio Costa, Count della Trinità, baron of the Napoleonic Empire, died 1826; La Roche Lacarelle (Cat., 1888, no. 128, reproduction, quoted in the preface by E. Quentin-Bauchard), with his bookplate; Franchetti (Cat., 1880, no. 143, reproduction), with his bookplate. Cohen, I, 497-498 (cites the copy); Michon (L.-M.), Les Reliures mosaïquées du XVIIIe siècle, pp. 42 and no. 192 of his list; Barber (G.), The James A. de Rothschild bequest at Waddesdon Manor. Printed books and bookbindings, I, p. 284, no. 7 (describes the copy); Bland (D.), A History of book illustration, London, 1958, 216; Dibdin (Th. Fr.), The Library Companion, p. 643.