Caesar, Commentarii, Venice, Paolo Manuzio, 1564, later red morocco gilt, Syston Park copy

Caesar, Gaius Julius. C. Iulii Caesaris Commentariorum de bello Gallico, libri VIII. Civili Pompeiano, lib. III. Alexandrino, lib. I. Africano, lib. I. Hispaniensi, lib. I. Galliae, Hispaniae, locorumq. insignium pictura. Nomina tum vetera, tum recentia explanata. Ioannis Michaelis Bruti scholia, quibus loci plurimi obscuriores explicantur. Venice: [Paolo Manuzio], 1564

8vo (144 x 95 mm). Italic type, 29 lines plus headline. collation: a-b⁸ A-Z⁸ Aa-Yy⁸ Zz⁴: 380 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page, woodcut initials, two double-page woodcut maps of Gaul and Spain, woodcut illustrations, a few annotations. (First and last leaves slightly soiled with small holes, a few small stains.)

binding: Nineteenth-century red morocco gilt (probably by Storr of Grantham) (150 x 105 mm), Aldine device stamped in gilt on covers, gilt edges. (Extremities slightly rubbed.)

provenance: Numerous early inscriptions on title-page, some crossed through: Joannes Evangelista Galiardus, Vincentius Morellius, Lucius Antonius M[--] — Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831), with his monogram bookplate and Syston Park bookplate, sale, Replica Shoes , Wilkinson & Hodge, 12-19 December 1884, lot 375, £1-4s, to Bernard Quaritch — Replica Shoes Parke Bernet, New York, 15 October 1974, (part of) lot 184 — Totteridge Book Shop, New York, catalogue description from March 1975 loosely inserted — Christie Manson and Woods, New York, 18 December 2003, lot 77. acquisition: Purchased at preceding sale via E.K. Schreiber. references: UCLA 716; Edit16 8179; Renouard 196/21