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[10] (lacking first blank) , 804, 809-1351,1354-1403, [41] (lacking last blank) pp. Collates complete save for first and last blanks, pagination skips correspond to ESTC 006185333. Impressive thick folio, 13" x 8.5" Magnificent modern rebinding in full blindstamped panelled dark leather, 5 raised bands to the spine with florettes in the compartments, title, author and date in gilt. Fore-edge has title written on (to be shelved edge out). Renewed end pages with college library bookplate and bookplate of Eric Gerald Stanley (1923-2018) a British Anglo-Saxonist, and the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor at Univ. Of Oxford. Title page with large engraved printer's mark, remounted with some repairs, an old signature in brown ink with date April 26, 1600. Xylographic "The" in the title. Verso of title page has woodcut portrait of Queen Elizabeth and the verso of A4 has a portrait of Livy framed in bay leaves and fruits. Dedication page has upper corner torn and has been restored with loss of text and head woodcut, old cellotape repair as well. To the Reader page has corner repaired with no loss, some staining p251-255, small ink smear on one page, Iiii quire corners restored, a few other pages with minor stains or repairs in the corners, Cccccc3 has a thin spot/small hole in the margin with no loss of text. Very occasional marginalia. Numerous engraved head and tail pieces, type is clear, paper is strong and nice. The first English edition of Livy's Roman History, translated by Holland, considered one of the greatest translators of the Elizabethan era. "His first published translation, The Romane Historie (1600) , was the first complete rendering of Livy's Latin history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, into English. According to John Considine: 'It was a work of great importance, presented in a grand folio volume of 1458 pages, and dedicated to the Queen. The translation set out to be lucid and unpretentious, and achieved its aim with marked success. It is accurate, and often lively, and although it does not attempt to imitate the terseness of Latin, it avoids prolixity.' " Livy (or Titus Livius) gives us the Ab Urbe Condita (literally, "From the Founding") , a history of Rome from its very beginnings. The first 10 books are the most famous, celebrated for their grandeur -- "it as a panegyrist of Rome and Italy that Livy finds his most memorable expression." Here we learn of the quasi-mythological history of Rome, of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, and the battles of the early kings of Rome; the Law of the Twelve Tables, the wars against the Gauls, the Latins, and the Samnites and finally the battle -- complete with elephants --between Hannibal's son Hasdrubal and Nero. Livy was known as a supreme master of the Latin language. "His prose was worthy of Cicero's but more subtle, more malleable and more lyrical." Livy probably wrote his history of Rome during the reign of Augustus Caesar; it is a fascinating work that in many cases is our only source of numerous aspects of Roman history; with vivid accounts of Tarquin the Proud, the Carthagenian Wars, and other events from Rome's tumultuous past. A beautiful and important book in a magnificent binding, complete save for the front and rear blanks, in quite good condition, with a nice provenance. ; Folio 13" - 23" tall.
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