Libri de re rustica.

Paris: Robert Estienne,, 1543. The bible of Roman agriculture, designed by the French royal printer First Estienne edition, complete with all five parts bound in one volume and rare thus. Robert Estienne was the printer to the king and is especially celebrated for the typographical elegance of his books: this is the earliest text printed entirely in italic by his press and with a type often attributed to the leading designer Claude Garamond. Robert (1503-1559), son of the famous humanist and printer Henri, was appointed "imprimeur du Roi" in 1539 and quickly established his reputation as one of the most learned men of his time, as well as the most influential figure in the Parisian book trade. His Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (1531) was a revolutionary Latin dictionary which laid the foundation of modern Latin lexicography. Until 1543, Estienne had used italic solely to distinguish specific phrases or words in pages of roman type. The present work marked a new direction; the main text is entirely printed using the "Second Estienne Pica Italic font" (see Vervliet, p. 309), a new italic type which had first appeared the previous year in his edition of Cicero's Tusculanarum Quaestionum. Several scholars have attributed this charming, Aldine-esque type to Garamond (1510-1561), a skilled engraver and type designer with whom Estienne started collaborating about 1530. This edition, composed of five parts which were issued separately, inaugurated a successful series of Latin classics printed in this manner, which continued until Estienne's departure from Paris in 1550. The works of the Scriptores rei rusticae ("writers on agriculture") - the classical Latin authors Cato, Varro, Columella, and Palladius - form the most important European compendium on agriculture surviving from antiquity. They were first combined in the editio princeps edited by Georgius Merula and printed in Venice in 1472. The treatises deal with the development of vine, olive, and fruit growing, as well as farm labour and the breeding and management of animals. The two final parts in this collection contain commentaries by the Renaissance humanists Pietro Vettori and Merula, as well as Aldus Manutius's guide to the farming year. 5 parts in 1 vol., octavo (167 x 100 mm). Each part with separate title page; printer's device on title page of parts I-III and V, Roman and Italic type. Eighteenth-century English panelled calf, spine with raised bands, gilt ornaments in compartments, red morocco label, board edges tooled in gilt, edges sprinkled red. Modern armorial bookplate of Baron Pierre de Crombrugghe, Belgian bibliophile and collector, on front pastedown. Extremities slightly rubbed, a touch of wear to corners, intermittent faint damp stain to corners of text, occasional minor mark, else internally clean. A very good, well-margined copy. Brunet III, p. 313; Renouard, Estienne, p. 55. Hendrik D. L. Vervliet, The Palaeography of the French Renaissance, vol. I, 2008.