[Meditations].

finely printed by the Chiswick Press

A finely printed example of this important work of Stoic philosophy by the last of Rome's Five Good Emperors.

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'.

Small 8vo (16.5 x 10 cm); title in red and black, woodcut head and tailpieces, printed on thick paper, bookplate to front pastedown, slight spotting to endpapers; contemporary half brown morocco for Hatchards of Picadilly, covers ruled in gilt, gilt spine in 6 compartments, top-edge gilt, minor wear, very good or better; [8], 287, [1]pp.