Cicero. 1632 M. Tulli Ciceronis Opera Omnia (all works). Petrum et Jacobum Chouet, Geneva

Here's a nice opportunity to own a well-laid out collection of all the works of Cicero, with some light provenance to help give the sense of historicity. This 1632 printing of the Opera Omnia (all works) of Cicero, is easy to peruse, the books well laid out, with a few signs of previous scholars and libraries decorating the pages.

Provenance -

Library stamps reveal the book was in the Seminary in the city of Caen, which was used by the Eudites order (after the French Revolution it became the City Hall/Library. The entire building was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 6703499, 6 copies recorded in the world's libraries. No copies recorded in the U.S. (for this catalogue entry; Worldcat would likely add more entries).

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 23 x 16 x 8 cm. Calf binding. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with central floret surrounded by florets in gilt, one compartment with the title in gilt on black morocco. Page edges blue/green with white sprinkling. Marbled endpapers. Decorative border to title page.

Pages - viii, (2 columns to a page/4 to a leaf) 436, blank leaf, 958 (verso of 957-958 blank), 635, one blank leaf, 714 (verso of 713/714 blank), one blank leaf, Index of 76 leaves.

Condition -

See pictures. Leather binding heavily worn, with rubbing, corner/edge wear, etc. Remnants of a paper library label on spine. Paper ticket on pastedown. Ex libris with all associated shelf marks, library stamps, etc.

Text block toned throughout with occasional dog-eared page, page/corner chip, thumb, candle ember mark, stray ink mark, rust spots, etc. Title page with many ex libris and library marks. Title page has an old repair at the gutter and some backing (looks like from the same time). 2nd leaf has a name and date of 1750. I see very occasional underlining, etc. Several leaves have a moisture spot, like as from a tea drop. In the index at the rear there's a name annotation in the fore-edge margin, and there's worming at the gutter near the top (this worming extends into the rear board at same location. Last several leaves with a worm hole/chip at top corner.