Tacitus, annalium libri quatuor, Paris, Pierre Chevillot for Robert Colombel, 1581, eighteenth-century mottled calf

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. C. Cornelii Taciti equitis Romani Ab excessu divi Augusti annalium libri quatuor priores, et in hos observationes Caroli Paschalii cuneatis. Paris: Pierre Chevillot for Robert Colombel, 1581

First printing of a commentary on the first four books of the Annales by the Piedmontese diplomat Carlo Pasquale (Carolus Paschalius; 1547-1625), the earliest political commentator on Tacitus in the opinion of Arnaldo Momigliano. “The immediate success of Paschalius' commentary must have been considerable in France” ("The First Political Commentary on Tacitus" in Journal of Roman Studies 37 (1947), pp. 91-101).

Folio (294 x 205 mm). Roman and italic types, 48 lines plus headline. collation: a⁴ A-Z⁴ Aa-Ii⁴ Kk⁶: 138 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page, decorated initials. (Dampstain to lower outer corner.)

binding: Eighteenth-century mottled calf (300 x 217 mm), spine with seven compartments, label, red speckled edges. (Joints worn, upper hinge cracked towards head, corners bumped.)

provenance: Maggs Bros, Catalogue 986 (London 1978), item 133. acquisition: Purchased from Maggs Bros, London, 1978. references: Renouard 299/7; FB 87267; USTC 170547