I lucked into buying (what turned out to be) the best known copy of the earliest printing of "Horace" by John Pine, 1733. One of only two copies untrimmed from the origInal and still together with the original decorative paper boards. It's also an extremely early printing, with many if the sheets among the first to come from the press

it was made from hundreds of copper plates engraved (the text engraved as well) by John Pine. Copies were purchased in advance by heads of europe, colleges, universities, nobles, etc at great expense. It's been called the finest fully engraved book ever printed

Found mine on eBay for about a tenth of what the best copies on the market sell for, and it turns out mine is the finest copy known, whether on the market or in an institution.

I ended up tracing it back through a few auctions at the turn of the century and confirmed at least two prior owners (collectors).

My interest was the binding, and I almost didn't buy it.

I knew nothing of the history of the book itself, but after acquiring it, I have had discussions with a few people (one is the expert on this edition) and we have come to realize it is the finest known copy of a very famous book.

Pine's Horace is actually common. So common you can grab a decent one for a few hundred dollars, despite its being a high point of printing. It's been called the finest printed book of the 18th century

But untrimmed copies (full size, not cut down) are extremely rare. And until mine was found, only one copy was known with the original decorative (temporary) paper boards/covers. The other copy had been damaged and rebacked.

Mine was bound in an extravagent French style (as they intended), with the paper covers bound into the book.

Esoteric stuff, I admit. Took me a while to come around on it, and I am a book collector to begin with