Lucretius – De Rerum Natura – Denis Lambin’s First Edition – Original Historiated Title Leaf – Paris, 1563

Description

A highly attractive original title leaf from the first edition of Denis Lambin’s celebrated recension and commentary on Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura, printed in Paris in 1563 for Guillaume Rouillé and Philippe Gaultier Rouillé, and measuring approximately 15.3 x 24.2 cm.

The title reads:

“TITI LVCRETII CARI DE RERVM NATVRA LIBRI SEX. A DIONYSIO LAMBINO…”

and announces Lambin’s extensive editorial work on the six books of Lucretius, undertaken through comparison with five manuscript codices, together with his corrections, restoration of the text and accompanying commentary. Modern bibliographical and auction records identify the edition as Paris, Guillaume Rouillé, 1563, in small quarto. Christie’s specifically describes it as the 1563 Lambin edition with a large historiated woodcut title border, while Cambridge University Library preserves and has fully digitised the copy once owned and heavily annotated by Michel de Montaigne.

The present title leaf is among the most visually impressive pages in the volume. The central typographical panel is surrounded by a magnificent Renaissance woodcut architectural and allegorical frame. Above, two winged figures emerge from clouds on either side of a radiant emblem bearing the Tetragrammaton, while below stand two imposing full-length allegorical figures. The lower section contains a large cartouche with an open book and the motto “TEMPORE SERVIENDVM”, flanked by further heraldic and ornamental devices, fruit and architectural decoration.

The combination of classical imagery with explicitly Christian symbolism is particularly striking in the context of Lucretius. De Rerum Natura is the most extensive surviving ancient exposition of Epicurean philosophy, presenting an atomistic account of the universe and arguing against fear of divine intervention and death. Lucretius’s philosophy could therefore sit uneasily within Christian intellectual culture, and Lambin’s edition became one of the major Renaissance vehicles through which the poem was studied and transmitted. Routledge characterises Lucretius as a Roman Epicurean poet and philosopher whose six-book didactic poem expounds Epicurean physics.

Denis Lambin and the 1563 Edition

Denis Lambin, or Dionysius Lambinus (1520/21–1572), was one of the leading French humanist scholars of the sixteenth century and held royal chairs in Greek and Latin at Paris. His edition of Lucretius was one of his most important scholarly achievements.

The title itself states that Lambin corrected the text from the authority of five manuscripts, restoring innumerable passages and adding concise but useful commentary. Later classical scholarship continued to value his work: modern studies describe the 1563 edition as influential in the dissemination and interpretation of Lucretius and Epicureanism in Renaissance France.

The edition has an extraordinary association with Michel de Montaigne. Cambridge University Library preserves Montaigne’s own copy of this exact 1563 printing, extensively annotated by him, and describes it explicitly as Lucretius’s De rerum natura, edited by Denis Lambin and printed in Paris in 1563. Montaigne repeatedly quoted Lucretius in the Essays and counted him among his preferred classical poets, making this edition particularly resonant in the history of Renaissance intellectual culture.

Christie’s records the edition as:

Lucretius Carus, Titus. De rerum natura libri sex, edited by Denys Lambin. Paris: Guillaume Rouillé, 1563. Small quarto. Title within large woodcut historiated border.

Forum Auctions has likewise offered a complete copy in contemporary limp vellum with an estimate of £600–£800, confirming the bibliographical identity and continuing specialist market for the edition.

Verso

The reverse carries the royal privilege headed:

“LEGIS PRIVATAE A REGE sancitae sententia.”

The privilege refers to Charles IX of France and protects Lambin’s corrected edition and commentary from unauthorised reprinting. Its text refers directly to Lambin’s work on Lucretius and to Guillaume Rouillé and Philippe Gaultier Rouillé. The date expressed within the privilege corresponds to 1563, providing additional internal confirmation of the edition.

The presence of the privilege on the reverse is important because it establishes this as an original title leaf from the book itself, rather than an isolated later impression of the decorative border.

Historical Importance

Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura is one of the foundational texts in the history of ancient philosophy, natural science and materialism. Written in six books during the first century BCE, it explains the physical and ethical system of Epicurus through Latin verse, discussing atoms and void, sensation, mortality, cosmology, natural phenomena and the liberation of humanity from superstition and fear of death.

The survival and Renaissance recovery of Lucretius had profound consequences for European intellectual history. Lambin’s 1563 edition belongs to the crucial period in which humanist philology was systematically reconstructing classical texts from surviving manuscripts.

This title leaf is therefore valuable on several overlapping levels: as an original Renaissance woodcut title page, as a leaf from an important humanist edition of Lucretius, as an artefact of early modern textual scholarship, and as the title page of the exact edition famously owned and annotated by Montaigne.

Condition

Very good condition overall for an original title leaf of 1563.

The principal recto is visually strong, with the large historiated woodcut border remaining substantially complete and sharply printed. There is general light age-toning, occasional small marks and minor surface soiling, but no significant loss to the principal engraved or printed area.

The leaf has evidently undergone historic mounting or conservation, with narrow paper reinforcement and old mounting strips visible particularly along the right edge and on the reverse. There are faint old fold or ruling lines, slight edge irregularity and some very minor staining.

The verso retains the complete principal privilege text and remains clearly legible.

Please study the photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the condition description.

Author: Titus Lucretius Carus (c.99–c.55 BCE)

Editor and CommentatorL Denis Lambin / Dionysius Lambinus (1520/21–1572)

Work: De Rerum Natura Libri Sex

Edition: First edition of Lambin’s recension and commentary

Place: Paris

Publishers: Guillaume Rouillé and Philippe Gaultier Rouillé

Date: 1563

Format: Small quarto.

Size: 15.3 x 24.2 cm

Language: Latin.

Printing: Letterpress title within a large historiated Renaissance woodcut border.

Verso: Royal privilege of Charles IX of France.

Subject: Lucretius; Epicurean philosophy; atomism; classical literature; Renaissance humanism; textual criticism; natural philosophy; Denis Lambin; Montaigne.

Authentication and Research

This leaf has been handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at our Ripon gallery. Its title, edition, decorative border and privilege have been compared with institutional and auction records for the 1563 Paris Lambin edition. Cambridge University Library holds and has digitised Montaigne’s personal copy of precisely this edition, while Christie’s independently records the same 1563 printing and its large historiated title border.

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