Buchanan, George
Psalmorum Davidis paraphrais poetica
£328
Auction: 19 September 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
nunc primum edita. Eiusdem Davidis Pslami aliquot à Th[eodoro] B[eza] V[ezelio] versi. Psalmi aliquot in versus ite[m] Graecos nuper à diversis translati. [Geneva:] Henricum Stephanum, et eius fratrem Robertu[m] Stephanum, [1565/6]. 8vo (18.6 x 11cm), later olive-green crushed morocco gilt, 277 46 pp., *4 a-r8 s4 a-c8, s4 and c8 both blank, roman letter, woodcut Estienne device to title-page, text ruled in red throughout, shallow loss to head and foot of spine, spotting to early leaves, annotation to rear free endpaper, bookplate of William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909) [Adams B1446; Renouard 167.2]
Provenance
The Library of a Scottish Gentleman
Footnote
First edition, according to Renouard preceding the Estiennes' sextodecimo edition dated Paris, 1566, and an Edinburgh edition brought out by Buchanan in the same year. ‘The best-known work associated with [Buchanan’s] period of detention was his Latin version of the Psalms which he may have planned earlier as it was a genre which attracted contemporary French writers. Dedicated to Mary, queen of Scots, when published, it is the work which does most to justify Henri Estienne's description of Buchanan as easily the leading poet of his time (ODNB).