“OVERFLOWED WITH ANECDOTES OF LUST, VIOLENCE, AND IDIOSYNCRASY”: 1606 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF SUETONIUS’ HISTORIE OF TWELVE CAESARS, TRANSLATED BY HOLLAND, BOUND WITH A 1606 EDITION OF THE HISTORIE OF JUSTINUS

SUETONIUS (HOLLAND, Philemon, translator). The Historie of Twelve Caesars, Emperors of Rome. WITH: JUSTINUS, M. Junianus. The istorie of Justine. London: Matthew Lownes / William Jaggard, 1606. Two volumes bound in one. Small folio in sixes (7-1/2 by 11 inches), contemporary full brown calf, raised bands, tan morocco spine label. $24,000.

First edition in English of Suetonius’ dramatic biographies of the Caesars, the important Holland translation, bound together with a 1606 edition of Justinus' widely read abridgment of Pompeius Trogus’ Historiae Philippica.

"De Vita Caesarum, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, is largely responsible for that vivid picture of Roman society and its leaders, morally and politically decadent, that dominated historical thought until modified in modern times by the discovery of nonliterary evidence. The biographies are organized by topics: the emperor's family background, career before accession, public actions, private life, appearance, personality and death… The earlier lives down to Nero, especially those of Julius Caesar and Octavius Caesar, are much the fullest, perhaps because as an antiquarian Suetonius was drawn to the documentary byways of an earlier age… [it is] exciting reading" (Britannica). "Classical 'lives' became prototypes for later writings about individuals. A rival for Plutarch was Suetonius (flourished A.D. 112-121), whose Lives of the Caesars overflowed with anecdotes of lust, violence, and idiosyncrasy" (Boorstin, The Creators, 586). Holland was considered the "translator general in his age… while the plague raged at Coventry [where Holland lived] in 1605-06, Holland translated Suetonius' Historie of Twelve Caesars" (DNB). The work was Robert Graves' primary inspiration for his novel I, Claudius (1934). With woodcut initials and elaborate woodcut chapter headpieces incorporating medallion portraits.

Justinus' work is an abridgment of the monumental Historiae Philippicae by Roman historian Pompeius Trogus, "a history of the world down to the Roman conquest of the East" (Peck). Justinus' Epitome became a critical source for the history of Macedonia and the Hellenistic kingdoms. First translated into English by Arthur Golding in 1564, it stood as the primary source from which Elizabethans drew their knowledge of classical history. There is little doubt that William Shakespeare was well-acquainted with the book. "Altogether, there are ten or more clear-cut allusions to memorable characterizations and passages… In addition, Shakespeare seems to have drawn heavily upon the book in naming many of his dramatic personages" (Charles Barrell). Direct parallels can be found in Henry V, Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter's Tale. Golding's much earlier translation is typically cited as Shakespeare's source, but it is curious that the translator of this 1606 edition, George Wilkins, was an associate of Shakespeare, a fellow member of the King's Company of Actors, and the co-author of Shakespeare's late drama Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The unscrupulous Wilkins actually "extensively plagiarized" Golding's translation for his own version, so the two texts are perforce very similar. With woodcut initials and elaborate woodcut chapter headpieces incorporating medallion portraits. STC 23424. Brueggemann, 703. Moss II:636. Harris, 145. Palmer, 100. STC 24293. Ownership signature dated 1657. Occasional early ink marginal marks.

Interior generally crisp and clean; paper flaw to leaf P5 of Suetonius, affecting letters but not the sense of the text, occasional light dampstaining to top edge of Justinus. Expert restoration to joints, which are cracked but holding firm. An exceptional copy.