De Secundo Bello Punico, Silius Italicus, Ex Officina Plantiniana Raphelengii, 1611, 286 pp, original vellum, 4.75 x 2.5”, 48mo.
In good condition. Nicely preserved lipped vellum binding. Vellum is lightly browned with a few superficial scratch indents to the surface. Manuscript spine indicating author. Old hand ownership dated 1788 on front pastedown. Earlier markings on flyleaf and title page. Interior in very good condition. Only light age-toning to truly report. Free of markings throughout textblock. Binding tight and intact. A beautiful Plantin Press example. Please see photos.
A scarce work on the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.E.) Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus was a Roman senator, orator and epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book Punica, an epic poem about the Second Punic War and the longest surviving poem in Latin at over 12,000 lines.
Printed by Plantin Press, this is one of the finest printed books of the early 17th century. Our book has Franciscus Raphelengius’ printer’s device inside. He was a Flemish-born scholar, printer and publisher working in Antwerp and later Leiden. During the last decade of his life he was professor of Hebrew at Leiden University. He is famous for his 550 page Arabic-Latin dictionary which was the first book-length dictionary for the Arabic language in Latin. He collaborated won the Platin Polygot Bible and married one of Christophe Plantin’s daughters in Antwerp. He later managed the Platin printing office in Leiden. We know that this was published in Leiden due to the date it was printed. He continued to print until 1619.
His partner and father-in-law, Christophe Plantin was an influential French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher living and working in Antwerp. His works were meticulously preserved. Today, the building that housed the firm is called the Plantin-Moretus Museum.The polyglot bible is considered one of the “finest bibles in all of Christendom”
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