Exceptionally rare early incunabula edition of Julius Caesar's chronicle on the Gallic war

CAESAR, Caius Julius.

Commentariorum de bello Gallico liber primus (-septimus).

Treviso: Michele Manzolo, 1480.

6th Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002947

30 June 1480. Folio (288 x 198 mm). 167 (of 168) unfoliated leaves, lacking the initial blank leaf only. Signatures: a⁸ (-a1) b⁶ c⁸ d⁶ e⁸ f⁶ g⁸ h⁶ i⁸ k⁶ l⁸ m⁶ n⁸ o⁶ p⁸ q⁶ r⁸ s⁶ t⁸ u⁶ x⁶, A-B⁸ C⁶. 44 lines to the page, Roman letter, 8-line initials. Includes index at end. Gathering i is numbered but not signed. Title from incipit on a2r. Imprint details from colophon on x5r. Edited, and with a poem (leaf x6r), by Girolamo Bologni (i.e. Hieronymus Bononius). Bound in early 18th century vellum, spine hand lettered and decorated in red, blue and black paint (short, 3 cm split of joint at foot of upper board, some soiling and spotting of vellum, extremities rubbed). Internally quite crisp and clean, occasional very minor spotting, few leaves with faint dampstaining to lower gutter, commentary in old manuscript on final leaf verso partially cancelled in black ink (having caused slight paper corrosion and a hole, just touching a few letters of text on leaf recto), several neat early ink marginalia and text markers throughout. A handsome, wide-margined copy with the annotations unshaved. Text collated complete. ----

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE EARLY INCUNABULA EDITION, the first printed in Treviso with the extensive commentary by Marlianus, of Julius Caesar's chronicle on the Gallic war that led to the regrouping of the populated areas of Celts that had not yet been conquered. The work is divided into eight books of which only the last not written by Caesar himself but by Aulus Hirtius after the death of the emperor. Most of our knowledge of Vercingetorix, the manners of the druids, and the German armies is derived from this firsthand chronicle that Caesar wrote to the glory of Roman civilisation.
Ours is the first edition printed in Treviso, and the first given by Girolamo Bologni (1454-1517), a lawyer from Treviso. It is in this editorial form, with the letter of Bononius and the index of Marlianus, that De bello Gallico is reprinted throughout the fifteenth century in Italy. The work includes: Caesar, Julius: Commentarii de bello Gallico, books I-VII (a2r-i2v); Hirtius, Aulus: Commentarii de bello Gallico, book 8 (i2v-k2v); Caesar, Julius: Commentarii de bello civili, books I-III (k3v-q2r). Also includes Aulus Hirtius' Bellum Alexandrinum (q2r-s1r), the anonymous Bellum Africum (s1r-u3r) and Bellum Hispaniense (u3v-x5r) - ascribed by Bodleian 15th cent. to [pseudo-] Aulus Hirtius or [pseudo-] Gaius Oppius) - all traditionally included in the Caesarian corpus. Also includes the 'Index commentariorum G. Iulii Caesaris' of Raymundus Marlianus (A1r-C6r). This incunable is rare on the market with only one (incomplete) copy recorded at auction in the past 50 years. Ref: ISTC ic00021000; Bod-Inc: C-009; Goff C21; HC 4217*; Pell 3144; CIBN C-9; BMC VI 889; GW 5868.

Price: 25,000 €  *  convert currency