Finely bound comprehensive edition of the most iconic amongst Roman generals and statesmen. Caesar s own account of his military campaigns in Gaul, Spain, Africa, Egypt and the Civil Wars have been a perennial textbook to learn a terse and lively Latin. This edition features: three large, detailed and very neatly engraved maps of the Roman Empire, Gaul and Iberia; several fragments of Caesar s letters and orations collected from contemporary or slightly later sources (e.g., Cicero, Sallust, Suetonius, Plutarch); a short geographical commentary written by Aldo Manuzio the Younger (1547-1597); a table showing the breakdown of the Latin and vernacular names of the cities mentioned in the book and drawing from Abrahm Orthelius s Thesaurus geographicus. This handsome copy belonged to Sir John Rivers of Chafford, 1st Baronet (c.1579-1651), whose arms are gilt on the covers. Little is known about John s life as about his library. He owed his fortune to his grandfather and namesake, a self-made man able to climb the ladder of Elizabethan society, becoming Sheriff and Mayor of London, Alderman of various city wards and obtaining a knighthood.
