Petersson, Torsten

CICERO: A Biography

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1920. First edition. Inscribed by the author on the front flyleaf. Octavo: [xii], 699 p. Original blue cloth binding, with gilt stamping. The printed name of Paul Naiditch, Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles, appears on the front flyleaf. Very mild dampstain to the top edge of the boards, with some negligible transfer to the prefatory and concluding leaves. The spine is darkened a touch, with a little bit of rubbing to the corners and tips.

“This book is strictly what it professes to be, a biography, and as such it must be judged. For its strength lies in the minute appreciation of Cicero’s personality, the thoughts and doings of a warm-hearted and highly-gifted man in an age of political strife and agonies […] Perhaps the most engaging part of the book is the estimate of Cicero in private life. Full justice is done to the great orator’s human qualities” (W.E. Heitland, The Classical Review).