[ANCIENT LITERATURE] QUINTI [QVINTI] HORATII FLACCI OPERA (2 Volumes, Complete) (Rare Book Room)

London: John Pine [Iohannes Pine], 1737. First Edition. Full Leather. Very Good binding. Full crimson leather double ruled in gilt to the perimter of the boards and with decorative corners; each board with a gilt lozenge in the center fashioned from printer's flowers; all edges gilt; decorative roll to turn-ins; with splendid endpapers in dutch gilt; the volume are lacking the labels; with previous owner armorial bookplates; Volume I published 1733; Volume II published 1737; the first state with the "Post est" error on Volume II, 108; [xxviii], 265; [xxiv], 191, [11] following; beginning of separation to the joints of Volume I, though holding; there is some minor foxing~~A remarkable edition, printed entirely from engraved copper plates -- text, initials, vignettes, portraits, etc John Pine (1690-1756) was one the ablest of England's engravers during the 18th century. Numerous handsome vignettes, initials, head- and tail-pieces accompany the text. Pine is considered by some historians to have been the first black man made a mason in England. He was a member of the masonic lodge at Globe Tavern in 1725 (where his name was spelled ‘Pyne') and we know that "Bro. John Pine engraved the annual List of Lodges from 1725 to 1741. ~~Printing and the Mind of Man (1963): "This edition of Horace was printed wholly from copper plates engraved by John Pine. The text was first set in type, and an impression from it on paper was transferred to the copper, which was then engraved, the decorations being added at the same time. The result was a page of great brilliance and precision, but the method was prohibitively expensive." (PMM2, 620). Very Good binding.