An attractive and near-complete set of the ‘Barbou Editions’, a series of small-format Latin classics imitative of the work of the Elzevirs, here consisting of Caesar, Catullus, Cicero, Cornelius Nepos, Eutropius, Justinus, Livy, Lucan, Lucretius, Martial, Ovid, Phaedrus, Plautus, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Sallust, Seneca, Terence & Virgil.
The project was started by Antoine-Urbain Coustelier in the early 1740s and taken over by Joseph Barbou in the 1750s. The earliest volume in this set is a two volume Terence, with a different imprint (Le Loup & Merigou), while all the rest are Barbou, or later on ‘Fratrum Barbou’, with the exception of the 14-volume Cicero where Barbou brought in two partners who share the imprint. The volumes were produced over several decades and sold individually, so complete sets are near-impossible: a full set of all the authors produced would total 58 volumes, and this particular grouping is missing Horace, Juvenal, Quintus Curtius, Velleius Paterculus (all in one vol.) and a 3-vol. Tacitus. Full list and collations of this set available on request.