HANDSOME GOLDEN COCKEREL EDITION OF CAESAR, ONE OF 70 COPIES BOUND BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE

CAESAR, Julius. Commentaries. A Modern Rendering by Somerset de Chair. (London): Golden Cockerel Press, 1951. Octavo, publisher's full maroon morocco gilt, raised bands, cartographic endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut. $1400.

Limited Golden Cockerel Press edition of Caesar’s Gallic War and Civil War, number 70 of 70 copies (out of a total edition of 320 copies) signed by translator de Chair and illustrator Clifford Webb and specially bound for Golden Cockerel by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.

Includes both Caesar's Gallic War and Civil War. Caesar's Commentaries is "the most widely studied military handbook in literature and a model of clear, straightforward composition" (Hornstein, 81). "There are few better models of pure narrative than Caesar. He concerns himself almost exclusively with action. Characters and personalities are revealed by the kinds of action his people perform. He rarely discusses his plans beforehand with the reader. The results reveal the plans. The consequences award praise or blame" (Rexroth, Classics Revisited, 97). "A lucid translation into colloquial modern English, almost entirely free from and archaism" (Chambers & Sandford 188). Translator de Chair was a noted author and a Member of the House of Commons. Illustrator Webb studied at the prestigious Westminster School of Art and was noted for his woodblock engravings and as a children's author. Includes frontispiece, 10 headpieces, and two vignette portraits of Caesar.

Very nearly fine condition.