4to. 2 parts in 1: (XXIV),717,(1 errata); 239,(1 blank) p., frontispiece. Vellum. 26 cm (Ref: STCN 186707010; Schweiger 2,406; Riedel Horatiana p. 42/43; Brunet 3,318/19: ' L'ouvrage parut d'abord à Cambridge 1711, mais on préfère l'édition d'Amsterdam 1713'; Dibdin 2,101/05; Moss 2,21; Graesse 3,354; Ebert 10194) (Details: Back with 6 raised bands. Both boards gilt. Frontispiece, designed by J. Goeree and executed by Bernards, depicting a monument for Horace in a bucolic scene, with his bust on top; the god Apollo holds a laurel wreath above the poet's head; in the foreground an old satyr; a Muse, probably Thalia, wraps a garland around the pedestal. Engraved printer's mark of the Wetstein family on the title-page, a burin being sharpened on a whetstone (Wetstein!), around it the device: 'Terar dum prosim'. Title-page printed in red and black. § The commentary is printed in 2 columns below the text) (Condition: Vellum age-tanned, somewhat scratched and slighty soiled. The 4 decorative silk fastening ribbons at the outer edges of the boards worn away. Bookplate pasted on the front pastedown. Old names on the front flyleaf) (Note: Richard Bentley, 1662-1742, from 1700 Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was doubtless one of the greatest names among classical scholars of Europe in the 18th century. He is most famous for his 'Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris' (London 1697/99), a work that, according to Sandys, 'marks an epoch in the History of scholarship'. He made significant advances in the study and textual criticism of Horace. In 1711 he published an edition of Horace 'in which the traditional text is altered in more than 700 passages, a masterly work, which however, does more credit to the logical force of his intellect than to his poetic taste. It is here that we find his celebrated dictum: 'nobis et ratio et res ipsa centum codicibus potiores sunt'. (Sandys 2,406) This citation is however not complete. The wise words which follow after the comma (potiores sunt,) are mostly omitted: 'praesertim accedente Vaticani veteris suffragio'. Some of his 700/800 emendations have been accepted, but the majority was rejected by the early 20th century as unnecessary) § The works of the Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B.C., have enjoyed a continuous presence in European culture. Till well into the 20th century he stood central in school curricula. Earlier, in the Middle Ages, he was next to Vergil the most important school author. Horace is transmitted in around 300 medieval manuscripts. The Renaissance saw the beginning of a flood of editions. 'For Neo-latin poetry until modern times, and for all the vernacular literature of Europe from the 16th through the 18th centuries, Horace provided the dominant model both for private lyrics celebrating wine and love and for public lyrics celebrating affairs of state'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 454/60)) (Provenance: The school prize was awarded to Henricus Johannes Pötken on the occasion of his promotion from the first class to the university, date 'VI Iduum Quintilis' 1777. The prize is signed by 2 curators, and the rector of the 'Gymnasii Oldensaliensis' J.G. Schultz'. In the 'Maendelyke uittreksels, of de Boekzael der geleerde werrelt', Volume 60, Amsterdam 1774, p. 98, we found the report of a promotion ceremony at the gymnasium of Oldenzaal, in which a boy H.J. Potken participated. Members of the Potken family lived in the Dutch city of Oldenzaal from the 17th century. § On the front pastedown an engraved bookplate 'Ex libris John Chipman Gray'. See for this American scholar of property law and professor at Harvard Law School, 1839-1915, his article in Wikpedia. His father's name was Horace. He graduated from Boston Latin School, went on to Harvard University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1859, and Harvard Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1861. § On the flyleaf: 'Russel Gray, from Anna Lyman Gray, January 1916'. John Chipman Gray was married to Anna Lyman (Mason) Gray. She apparantly donated this book a year after the death of her husband to a relative Russell Gray. She died in 1932. § On the flyleaf also in green ballpoint Augustine H. Gray. He was born in 1888 in Massachusetts, and died in 1981. He fought in two world wars. He later became Rear Admiral.) (Collation: pi2, *2 (first leaf signed *3), 2*-3*4; A-2X4, 2Y2, 2Z-4X4, 4Y1 (4Y1 verso: errata); (a)-(2g)4 ((leaf (2g)4 verso blank) (The first leaves, pi2 and *2, have been described erroneously by STCN as 'pi1 pi2, *2'. This cannot be correct, for the first 2 leaves (pi2) form a conjugate pair, shown by the watermark. The leaves of *2 form also a conjugate pair, also shown by the watermark)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)