MINIATURE BOOKS – PICKERING, William (1796-1854), publisher. A collection of 11 Diamond Classics. London: William Pickering, [1821-31].

Greek and Roman writers in Pickering’s Diamond Classics,handsomely bound in red morocco by Capé.William Pickering began his career as a bookseller and then turned to publishing in the late 1810s. In 1821 he began issuing the popular series of “Diamond Classics,” miniature books set in tiny 4.5 point type and offered in a cloth or leather binding at an affordable price of six shillings. The series, which continued through 1831, was so successful that collectors sometimes had their volumes rebound by society bookbinders such as Charles-François Capé (1806-1867), who bound the present set. This collection includes the following Diamond Classics: Catullus (1824), Cicero’s De Officiisand other works (1821), Dante (2 vols., 1822), Homer’s Iliad(1831), Homer’s Odyssey(1831), Horace (1826), Petrarch (1822), Tasso (vol. 2 only, 1822), Terence (1822), and Virgil (1821).

11 volumes, 24mo (84 x 46mm). Uniformly bound in maroon morocco gilt by Capé, silk ribbon bookmarks (very lightly rubbed).