Historiarum et annalium libri qui exstant ... Liber de moribus Germanorum by TACITUS, Publius Cornelius - 1574: Iulii Agricolae vita. Incerti Scriptoris dialogus de oratoribus sui temporis

Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1574. LIPSIUS, Justus. . Historiarum et annalium libri qui exstant ... Liber de moribus Germanorum. Iulii Agricolae vita. Incerti Scriptoris dialogus de oratoribus sui temporis. Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1574.

Lipsius' first edition of the works of Tacitus. Small octavo (6 11/16 x 4 1/16 inches; 170 x 105 mm). 762, [4, privilege and colophon] pp. with woodcut printer's device on title and figurated woodcut initials in text.

Full eighteenth-century marbled sheep with gilt borders on the covers, spine gilt tooled and ruled in compartments, burgundy morocco gilt spine label, gilt board edges, marbled endpapers. Minor foxing. Contemporary owner's faded ink signature on title page, old underlining at places. A very attractive copy of this classic.

This seminal edition was reprinted nineteen times and forms the basis for modern editions of Tacitus' text. Tacitus (c. 55-c. 120) is regarded both as the finest prose writer of the Silver Age of Roman literature and the era's most important historian. His principle work, the Annals and Histories, cover the period from the accession of Tiberius (AD 14) to the death of Domitian (AD 97). Tacitus held positions of high political power, eventually rising to become both Senator and Consul. His political position gave him access to all sources of information. "A natural pessimism had been confirmed by the reign of terror in the last years of Domitian reign, but looking back on the history of the century there was little to combat his theory that it was a period of gradual degeneracy to which the reign of Trajan had put a welcome period. Tacitus' standpoint is fundamentally ethical-he sees the woes which he describes as a warning to future generations, yet his sentimental longing for the heroic age of liberty is tempered by the realization that the strong central Imperial government is a beneficial necessity" (PMM). Tacitus was relatively unknown in the Middle Ages though his works were first printed in Venice in 1473. Justus Lipsius, the Dutch scholar, was said to have known all of Tacitus by heart. This is his great edition of Tacitus and it is one of the monuments of sixteenth century scholarship and was the basis for all later editions of the text.

Printing and the Mind of Man 93. Voet 2276.

HBS 65388.

$4,500.