[Aurelius, Marcus]; [Anne Le Fèvre Dacier and André Dacier (trans.)]

Reflexions Morales de L'Empereur Marc Antonin avec des Remarques [i.e. Moral Reflections of Emperor Marcus Antoninus with Remarks] [TWO VOLUMES]

Paris: Chez Claude Barbin, 1691. Vignette of Marcus Aurelius writing outside of his tent in military garb, by Sébastien Le Clerc; headpieces, and initials. First French translation (Dacier) edition. Rebound in full nineteenth-century tan polished calf, gilt rules, gilt spine compartments, black morocco spine labels, green silk ribbon markers, aeg, marbled end papers. Quarto (alternating quires of quarto in 8s and quarto in 4s). [blank, 2] [i, TP] [ii-xliii, Preface] [xliv-ccxxx, La Vie de Marc Aurele Antonin] [ccxxxi, Extrait du Privilege du Roy] [1] 2-284 [4]; [blank, 4] [TP] 291-747 [748, Fautes d’impression]. 6.75" x 5.75" Mild rubbing with a few scuffs to leather, tiny spots wear tips/corners, roman numismatic themed owner's label, previous sale ad to front paste down. Internally very clean with a few sparse spots of toning throughout. Overall a very near fine and handsome copy of this important translation. Item #234886

Before her landmark translations of Homer established her reputation across Europe, Anne Dacier had already begun reshaping classical reception in the French-speaking world. Having produced acclaimed translations of Sappho, Aristophanes, and Terence, she joined her husband André Dacier in producing the first complete French translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, published in 1690 as Réflexions morales de l’empereur Marc Antonin.

While translated by the husband and wife duo, it is Anne Dacier who authored the substantial and rhetorically forceful preface—a forty-page essay that excoriates the rising tide of neo-Epicureanism in late seventeenth-century France and champions a Christianized Stoicism, aligned with the Daciers’ own recent Catholic conversion.

Curiously, the first edition appears without attribution, a not uncommon practice in moral and classical works of the period — especially those authored by women or dealing with potentially controversial philosophical material. Nevertheless, the translation was quickly recognized as the work of the Daciers, whose intellectual stature and court connections ensured the book’s wide influence.

Hailed by her contemporaries as one of the most erudite classicists of her age, Anne Dacier’s voice resonates throughout the volume. This edition stands not only as the earliest French rendering of Meditations, but also as a seminal intervention in the intellectual and moral debates of early modern France.

Price: $5,000.00