1695 Scarce Latin French vellum Bookset - Les Comedies de Terence - Terence's Comedies
(description)
Author : Publius Terentius Afer (TERENCE), Anne Dacier
Title: Les comedies de Terence traduites en Francois avec des remarques par madame D***. (Complete set of 3 volumes).
Language: Text in Latin and French
Publisher: Lyon, Chez Horace Molin, 1695.
Size: 6.5 " X 4 "
Pages : [72] 496 [8], 490, 432 pages
Binding: Very good full vellum binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed) under a removable protective mylar cover .
Content: Very good content (bright and tight, some foxing and staining throughout - as shown).
Illustration: Very nice illustrated title page and one full page illustration reproducing the masks of Andrienne actors.
Estimate: (USD 400 - USD 800)
The book: Scarce and attractive 17th century complete bookset of Terence's Comedies.
The author: Publius Terentius Afer (c. 195/185 – c. 159? BC), better known in English as Terence, was a Roman playwright during the Roman Republic, of Berber descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence apparently died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. All of the six plays Terence wrote have survived.
One famous quotation by Terence reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me." This appeared in his play Heauton Timorumenos.