Item #73 La Pharsale de Lucain. Lucain, Georges de Brébeuf, 39–65 AD Marcus Annaeus Lucanus.
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain
La Pharsale de Lucain

La Pharsale de Lucain

Publisher: Paris: Jean-Baptiste Loyson, 1670.

Illustration: Numerous full-page engraved plates (frontispiece + plates at the head of each book)

Edition: Early French verse translation, Paris 1670

Binding: Contemporary full calf, spine gilt in compartments with floral tools and gilt title label. Boards rubbed, corners worn, joints cracked but holding; loss to head of spine with exposed leather, but binding still solid.

Description: A richly illustrated 17th-century French translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia, or De Bello Civili — the epic recounting the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey. Translated into French verse by Georges de Brébeuf (1618–1661), this version was admired in its day for its poetic elegance and rhetorical intensity.

This Paris edition of 1670 is handsomely produced, with an engraved allegorical frontispiece and a full-page engraved plate introducing each of the ten books. These dramatic copper engravings vividly depict battles, omens, and episodes from the Roman civil war, enhancing the appeal of the volume.

Bound in contemporary mottled calf with gilt spine compartments. The volume shows some wear — rubbing to boards, loss to head of spine, and tender joints — but remains structurally sound. The textblock is clean and the plates are strong impressions with good contrast. On the title page is an early ownership inscription noting Brébeuf’s name and dates.

A scarce illustrated French edition of Lucan’s Pharsalia, combining classical literature with 17th-century book arts. Desirable for collectors of French classical translations, emblematic engravings, and the literature of Rome’s civil wars.

The allegorical engraved frontispiece bears an early manuscript annotation in ink at the head margin (“Bornot scripsit, …”), providing evidence of historical ownership or readership. Such marginalia enhances the provenance and character of this copy.

Condition: Good — contemporary calf binding worn with loss to head of spine; joints cracked but holding; textblock and engravings clean and crisp.

Annotation: Illustrated 1670 Paris edition of Lucan’s Pharsalia in Brébeuf’s French verse translation, with frontispiece and ten full-page engraved plates.

Item #73

Price: $440.00

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