ALDINE EDITION OF CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES, 1566, WITH WOODCUT MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

(ALDINE PRINTING) CAESAR, Julius. Commentatiorum de bello Gallico, libri IIX. De bello Civili Pompeiano, lib. III. De bello Alexandrino, lib. I. De bello Africano, lib. I. De bello Hispaniensi, lib. I. Venice: In Aedibus Manutianis, 1566. Small thick octavo, modern full brown morocco, raised bands, black morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers; collation: a8 b8 A-Z8 Aa-Ss8 Tt-Yy8; ff. 376. $2200.

Later Aldine edition of Caesar's Commentaries, with two double-page woodcut maps of Gaul and Spain, five full-page woodcut illustrations, and the anchor and dolphin Aldine device on the title page and colophon, attractively bound.

"On 28 June 1512, Fra Giocondo of Verona successfully petitioned the Venetian Senate for ten years' protection of editions of various classical authors which he had prepared. These included Commentarii de Cesaro, the basis of Aldus' [first] edition, which appeared at the end of 1513… The most striking feature of [the edition] is the map, the Pictura totius Galliae… There are five additional woodcuts in the front matter, all dealing with Caesar's strategic and tactical operations. The most significant are the two pictorial representations of the sieges of Massilia and Uxellodunum" (Fletcher, 118).

Caesar's Commentaries is "the most widely studied military handbook in literature and a model of clear, straightforward composition" (Hornstein, 81). "There are few better models of pure narrative than Caesar. He concerns himself almost exclusively with action. Characters and personalities are revealed by the kinds of action his people perform. He rarely discusses his plans beforehand with the reader. The results reveal the plans. The consequences award praise or blame" (Rexroth, Classics Revisited, 97). First Aldine edition published in 1513; the work was so popular that the Aldine press published a further 14 editions. Text in Latin. Owner ink signatures to title page, some minor ink marginalia, ink markings on colophon.

Some minor marginal staining, text generally clean. Marginal paper repair to final leaf. An attractively bound copy.