Epigrammatum Libros XV. MARTIALIS (Marcus Valerius).

Interpretatione Et Notis Illustravit Vincentius Collesso J.C. Jussu Christianissimi Regis. Ad Usum Serenissimi Delphini.

Engraved frontispiece by L. Moreau, woodcut device on the title, engraved head-piece and initial by Langlois to dedication leaf.

4to. [260 x 190 x 63 mm]. [14]ff, 793, [3], 59, [1], 168 pp. Contemporary English binding of mottled calf, the spine divided into five panels with gilt compartments, lettered in the second and fourth panels on red goatskin labels, the others tooled with two floral bouquets each repeated, small flower heads and floral corners, the edges of the boards tooled with a gilt floral roll, plain endleaves, marbled edges. (Joints cracked at head and foot, some erosion of surface of calf due to mottling acid).
Paris: Antonium Cellier, 1680.

First edition of Martial's Epigrams edited by Vincent Collesson. The book includes the obscene epigrams, bound at the end. Brunet (III, 1492) describes it as "Volume peu commun". It is part of a 65 volume collection of Latin classics designed by the Duke of Montausier for the education of the Dauphin, all printed in Paris between 1674 and 1691 (apart from one printed in 1698 and the last in 1730) and all following a uniform model.

The binding is almost certainly English, and possibly from Oxford. The lettering of the spine on two red goatskin labels is distinctive and it is an example of the short lived vogue (c.1670-1690) for marbled edges on English bindings (see Pearson, English Bookbinding Styles 1450-1800, p112).

Ink inscription inside front cover "Henry Oxenden Sept. 16 1754".

Stock no. ebc4387