[Meditations].

finely printed by the Chiswick PressA 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.