1733 ❧ PINE'S HORACE. HORATIUS FLACCUS, QUINTUS. 65-8 BC. Opera. London: John Pine, 1733-1737. 2 volumes, 8vo (216 x 135 mm). Engraved throughout, each vol. with frontispiece and 3 plates. Contemporary mottled calf, spines lettered and decorated in gilt. Spines and joints a bit rubbed. Provenance: James Plunkett, Earl of Fingall (bookplate). FIRST EDITION, second issue, with 'Post Est' amended to 'Potest' (Vol. II, p. 108). 'A distinguished if somewhat isolated work, Pine's Horace, of which the first volume appeared in 1733, the second in 1737. John Pine was an engraver, the pupil of Bernard Picart, and his two volumes are engraved throughout, both text and illustration. The book is a monument of the Augustan Age the long period of Whig ascendancy when, in architecture, the native baroque tradition of Wren, Vanbergh, Hawksmoor and Gibbs was replaced by Neo-Palladianism almost as abruptly as the House of Hanover took over from the Stuarts. To be able to quote Horace was recognized as a desirable, gentle -manly accomplishment. Pine's Horace was very much a subscription book, the list of subscribers being headed by Frederick, the Prince of Wales. Each section is graced by a dedication page to some member of the current establishment; there is one to Sir Robert Walpole, another to 'Alexandro Popio Arm.' who is none other than the armigerous poet Alexander Pope. The squared-up headpieces, and the more rococo tail pieces, contain medal designs, many of which are taken from unreliable sources, as well as examples of famous statues from antiquity.' (Harthan). Harthan, The Illustrated Book p. 152; Printing and the Mind of Man, Exhibition of Fine Printing, British Museum 1963, no.105. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing