TO THE READER,

FROM THE BOOKSELLERS.

In the year 1740, a new edition of the CORPORIS JURIS CIVILIS Body of Civil Law appeared at Leipzig, with the notes of Dionysius Gothofredus and other illustrious Jurisconsults enumerated on the title page, which edition is the most recent of all the editions of the CORPORIS JURIS CIVILIS that have appeared until now.

But since almost all copies of this edition have now been sold out, and there is a great scarcity of them, we have undertaken to put this new edition under the press. We have adopted this plan the more willingly because the first of all the editions of the CORPORIS JURIS CIVILIS with the notes of Gothofredus appeared at Geneva and was brought to light at the expense of our ancestors, among whom we can count the illustrious Dionysius Gothofredus himself.

If indeed you wish to compare the present edition with the Leipzig one, it will be as clear as the noonday sun to you that ours is far superior, whether you attend to the characters or to the form and the quality of the paper.

In the Leipzig edition, the characters are so small that they almost escape the sharpness of the eyes; in ours, however, they are such that the letters appear not so much printed as rather sculpted. And, let it be far from me to boast, in this edition, the characters of the notes are—as anyone can see—equal to the characters of the text of the Leipzig edition.

Regarding the form and the quality of the paper, there is no one—unless they are blind in the sun—who does not see at first glance how great a difference intervenes between them.

But there is something else in which our edition excels the Leipzig one, and which will appear of greater moment to the reader: namely, the most accurate emendation and purging of many errors that had crept into both the text and the notes of the previous edition. The author of this emendation is a most celebrated Jurisconsult who did not disdain to take this work upon himself. Although our edition far excels the Leipzig one, all things considered, it will nevertheless—what you may marvel at—cost almost the same, or at least not much more. Now, if the prior edition was sold to the public so easily and within a fairly short time, there is no doubt what may be augured regarding ours.

Farewell.

Geneva, Kalends of October, 1781.

THE DE TOURNES BROTHERS.