Helvetiorum Respublica

1627

Shoults La 1627 H

[Leiden: Elzevir]

The Dutch firm of Elzevir was established about 1585. They produced small format editions which have always been collectible. Bibliophiles (booklovers) throughout time have sought out the tallest and freshest copies, known for their elegance of design, neatness, clearness and regularity of type. Indeed, collectors have been known to deny themselves life’s necessaries for the sake of accumulating as many little Elzevirs as possible. Shoults was no different. The Shoults Collection contains 105 copies of these editions; a respectable number for any library. Many had engraved title-pages, like this second edition of Helvetiorum Respublica (1627), a reprint of works on Switzerland that initiated from Josias Simmler’s De Republica Helvetiorum (1576).