CAII PLINII SECUNDI NATURALIS HISTORIAE LIBRI XXXVII. Interpretatione & Notis illustravit Joannes Harduinus Soc. Jesu, Jussu Regis Christianissimi Ludovici Magni, in Usum SERENISSIMI DELPHINI. by Pliny the Elder - 1685

Paris: Francis Muguet first edition, 1685. Hardcover. Good. Frontispiece of ship and dolphin by L. Moreau with French royal coat of arms + large copperplate headpiece incorporating Louis XIV's coat of arms + decorative initals and a few headpieces.. FIVE VOLUMES quarto full leather bindings, corners bare, hinges cracked but still securely held. A second spine laid over original at an early date with different gilt decoration, chipped and damaged but repaired where necessary, so the set is not quite uniform in gilt decoration. All edges sprinkled red and black. Vol I Frontis (reinserted) + titlepage with fleur-de-lys printer's mark +[66]pp prelims +815pp +[1]p privilege; Vol II 657pp (inc. titlepage) +[1]p privilege; Vol III 645pp (titlepage & privilege included); Vol IV 927pp (titlepage included) +[1]p privilege); Vol V 1015pp (inc. titlepage & privilege). Some damp staining, most pronounced in Vol II which also has some grey staining to the footnotes of Book 8 while latter half of Book 9 and first three leaves of Book 10 have a sprinkling of small holes in notes and lower margin. Most of other volumes have some marks of former damp to margins, endpapers and last few leaves, and some 35 leaves in Book 8 of Vol II have additional grey marks, none affecting legibility. Some browning and foxing, but all pages tightly bound in, with paper strong and crisp. Text in Latin throughout with copious notes giving references and explanations, and large indexes in each volume. *A useful and full early French edition (for the Dauphin) of Pliny the Elder's Latin Natural History. (Extra shipping cost for 5 large volumes).