The typeface used for this edition of the works of Horace was created by John Baskerville in the 1750s. Baskerville worked as a printer in Birmingham and created a new typeface that followed classical design principles and was easy to read. The clarity of the type led to Baskerville's appointment as printer to the University of Cambridge in 1758. Although not a long-lasting endeavour in Baskerville's own time, the type has become influential in modern fount design, inspiring several serif founts since the 1920s.
Horace's Carmen Saeculare, a lyric poem written in the style of Sappho, is the earliest lyric poem for which we have evidence of the circumstances of its first performance. It was commissioned by the Emperor Augustus to be sung at the end of the "Ludi Saeculares" of 17 BC. The "Saeculares" was a great feast and religious celebration that only occurred once every 110 years in the Roman calendar to celebrate the passing of one age and the beginning of another. It had been all but forgotten in Rome until its revival by Augustus and it was celebrated again in AD 88 under the Emperor Domitian and for the last time in AD 204 under Septimius Severus.