IN RARE ROYAL BINDING OF ELIZABETH I: 1598 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF TACITUS' ANNALES, "THE PRINCIPAL PROSE WRITER OF THE SILVER AGE OF LATIN LETTERS," DEDICATED BY THE TRANSLATOR TO ELIZABETH'S LAST GREAT LOVE

TACITUS, Cornelius. The Annales of Cornelius Tacitus. The Description of Germanie. ISSUED WITH: The End of Nero and Beginning of Galba… The Life of Agricola. (London: Printed… by Arn. Hatfield [Part II by Edm. Bollifant], for Bonham and John Norton), 1598. Small folio, contemporary full brown calf sympathetically rebacked, covers with gilt centerpiece of the arms of Queen Elizabeth I, raised bands, red morocco spine label. $18,500.

First edition in English of Tacitus' Annales, bound with the 1598 second edition in English of the Histories and the Life of Agricola, with engraved plan of a Roman army camp, handsomely bound in a rare royal binding of Queen Elizabeth I, with her royal coat-of-arms stamped in gilt on boards. This first English translation was dedicated to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, one of Elizabeth’s most favored and trusted advisers, who in 1601 led an abortive coup d'état against the government and was executed for treason.

"Tacitus is the outstanding historian and the principal prose writer of the Silver Age of Latin letters. He was the son-in-law of the great Roman general Agricola, under whom the Roman conquest of Britain was completed, and whose biography Tacitus wrote… He is by far the most reliable authority for the history of [his] period. His own high position—he eventually rose to become Senator and Consul—gave him access to all the information which was not locked up in the imperial chancery… Tacitus' standpoint is fundamentally ethical—he sees the woes which he describes as a warning to future generations, yet his sentimental longing for the heroic age of liberty under the republic is tempered by the realization that the strong central Imperial government is—or could be—a beneficial necessity. His much admired style, antithetical, terse and rhetorical, drives home his meaning with unrivaled force" (PMM 93). Translator Richard Grenewey dedicated this translation to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, one of Elizabeth's most favored and trusted advisors, who served in the very prestigious position of Master of the Horse and commanded several expeditions against the Spanish. He later served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, although his failure there ultimately led to his fall from grace, his confinement, and the removal of his principal source of income, the monopoly over the sale of sweet wines that the Queen had granted him. His attempt to force an audience with the Queen led to his arrest. He was found guilty of treason and executed, on February 25, 1601, making him the last person to be beheaded in the Tower of London. Without final blank. STC 23644; 23643. Brueggemann, 692. See PMM 93. Early owner ink signature and shelf number on title page; bookplate.

Mild browning and wear to edges only of title page and first two leaves of text. Expert restoration to corners and edges of original royal binding. An exceptionally good copy, most desirable with the gilt arms of Queen Elizabeth I.