Bound by Bumpus. A finely printed example of this important work of Stoic philosophy by the last of Rome's Five Good Emperors, attractively bound in gilt-ruled pigskin by Bumpus.

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, contemporary gift inscription in pen to front free endpaper recto, minor spotting to endpapers; contemporary pigskin by Bumpus, covers ruled in gilt, gilt spine in 6 compartments, top-edge gilt, others uncut, minor wear, covers slightly marked, very good; [8], 287, [1]pp.