"I, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS… AM NOW ABOUT TO WRITE THIS STRANGE HISTORY OF MY LIFE": ROBERT GRAVES' MASTERPIECES OF HISTORICAL FICTION I, CLAUDIUS AND CLAUDIUS THE GOD, FIRST EDITIONS

GRAVES, Robert. I, Claudius. WITH: Claudius the God. London: Arthur Barker, 1934. Together, two volumes. Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jackets.

First edition of Graves' most famous novel and its excellent sequel, "two of the most resonant historical novels of the century," very nice copies in the original dust jackets.

Drawing from such ancient sources as Tacitus and Suetonius, Graves created the secret "autobiography" of Claudius, narrated "in the imaginatively and idiosyncratically conceived persona of the emperor" (Drabble, 412). "In I, Claudius and its successor, Claudius the God, Robert Graves wrote two of the most resonant historical novels of the century… In impersonating Claudius, Graves displays a scholarly and imaginative understanding of the mores and ethos of the Roman world, and sensationalizes his material only as much as must be expected from a novelist with a living to earn… Graves' people are real Romans, and Claudius' autobiography is credible as the product of a Roman mind" (Parker, 175). Graves was a gifted classicist at Charterhouse and later Oxford, but decided to pursue literature and poetry after he completed his degree. Graves translated Apuleius' The Golden Ass and Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars; he also published a controversial encyclopedia of Greek Myths containing some of his own original theories. I, Claudius was dramatized by the BBC in 1976 starring Derek Jacobi. Its companion volume Claudius the God is "both sober history… and a parable that has its modern application… dramatizing the old saying, 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'" (New York Times). I, Claudius with folding genealogical table tipped in at rear; Claudius the God with two folding family trees and a full-page map. Bookplate in each volume, including that of the Marquess of Crewe in Claudius the God; original owner ink inscription in I, Claudius, dated 1934.

Books fine, dust jackets with a few creases at spine heads, spine of Claudius the God gently toned, near-fine. A lovely set.