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Stunning volume. Very thick Royal 4to. Dictionary of Latin, published in Paris. Presumed 1st Edition thus, 1866. Title page reading; Lexicon manuale ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis ex glossarus Caroli Dufresne D Ducagnii, D P Carpentarii, Adelungh at aliorum in compendium accuratissime redactum ou: recueil de mots de la basse latinite dresse pour servir a lintelligence des auteurs, soit scres, soit profanes, du moyen age. Unpaginated, double row of Latin text to each page, numbered to 2,336 thus 1118pp. Coloured marbled endpapers. Very good clean tight sound square, no bookplate or inscriptions, small discreet attractive inkstamp to foot of flyleaf bearing Monastry of Crawley vignette, small discreet label to upper leading corner of front free endpaper, no further signs or ownership marks of any kind. Bound in wonderful and seldom seen vellum; bright gilt and black embossed halfcalf skin white vellum leather over marbled paper boards, all edges yellow. Only a single maker of vellum remains in the UK. Paul Wright of William Cowley says that historically, vellum meant power as every law was written on vellum, which was considered so sacred, so prized that the finest vellum makers would be abducted, stuck in a dungeon and forced to make vellum, so which ever side it was, royal or religious, could make their own laws. Until very recently, all UK Acts of Parlaiment were written, and thus preserved, on vellum. Speaking against the recent decision to stop this practice, Mr Wright added; You can roll vellum up and leave it on a shelfor in a cavefor 5,000 years. True to form the vellum of the volume in hand is in excellent condition, the marbled lower edge only showing the rubbing of shelfwear. This is a lovely volume, fit to grace any library. Very heavy and will occasion additional postage overseas, particularly outside Europe.
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