LUCRETIUS CARO, Titus (?96-55 B.C.). De rerum natura libri sex, edited by Denys Lambin, Paris: Guillaume Rouillé, 1563. Small 4° (232 x 157mm). Title within large woodcut historiated border. (Title and a few gatherings very lightly browned, 2 small wormholes in lower margin.) 18th-century calf, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments, morocco lettering-piece, red edges (joints cracked but firmly holding, head and tail of spine chipped, corners bumped, rubbed). Provenance: De Reffuge Maisse (inscription on title) -- illegible signature at foot of title. FIRST LAMBIN EDITION, THE EDITION INCLUDED IN PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN, where it is described as "one of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language". "Of very few languages can it be said that the first surviving major poem in it is an exposition of a philosophical system of considerable subtlety, but first or last, Lucretius's 'On the Nature of Things' would have been a unique contribution to any literature." Denys Lambin's "editorial work expresses a deep sympathy for his subject and the prefaces and notes are a monument of erudition and fine vigorous Latinity" (PMM 87). Adams L1659.