Bound by Maclehose. A finely bound example of this important work of Stoic philosophy, offering a fascinating insight into the mind of the last of Rome's Five Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (AD 121-180).

Marcus Aurelius composed his Meditations between 170 and 180 AD as a private work, intended for his own moral guidance and self-improvement. The first definite mention of the text was made by Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century, who sent a copy of the Emperors' '[writings] to himself' to Demetrius, Archbishop of Heracleia sometime before 907 AD. Although now lost, this edition is considered the likely source of the two extant manuscripts on which the present-day text is almost entirely based. The work survives to offer us a unique insight into the mind of a Roman emperor and 'philosopher king'.

Bound in full contemporary red morocco gilt by Maclehose.

12mo (16 x 10.5 cm); photo-lithographed frontispiece, ownership inscription in pen to front pastedown; contemporary red straight-grain morocco by Maclehose, covers double-ruled in gilt, spine in lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, minor wear to extremities, a fine copy; xlii, 167, [1]pp.