Cesare - Commentarii - 1576

Manual of War, Forts, Attacks, and Legions: How to Conquer a Continent
This Lyonese edition of 1576 of the Commentarii by Caius Iulius Caesar, edited by Ioannes Iucundus Veronensis, situates itself squarely within the humanistic tradition of the critical textual restoration of the classical text, but above all within the Renaissance reception of Caesar as a military author and engineer of war. Printed in a compact and functional format, intended for study and everyday use, the edition favors a text designed to be consulted, annotated, and used as a historical-strategic manual. The numerous traces of reading – manuscript annotations, ownership marks, ancient restorations, and a service binding – attest to real circulation in scholastic and erudite circles between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, where the Commentarii were read not only as a model of prose, but as a treatise on war, on military organization, and on territorial control.
Market value
In today’s antique market, the sixteenth-century editions of Caesar's Commentaries based on Ioannes Iucundus’s text, especially those produced in Lyon in compact, study-oriented formats, exhibit stable appeal rather than speculative value. In a context where copies are often compromised by heavy use, this volume, though it shows evident signs of wear, ancient restorations, and a fragile binding, retains a collectible recognizability that allows its commercial appraisal today to fall within a roughly 800 to 1,200 euro range, taking into account the completeness of the text, the presence of the title page, and its value as an authentic witness of military and humanist reading rather than as an object of formal prestige.

Physical description and condition
Old parchment binding, soft parchment, probably from the seventeenth century, with a manuscript title on the back (“Iuli Caesaris Commentaria”). The parchment is stained and the spine worn; ancient restorations visible inside the boards with recovered manuscript and printed leaves, indicating the volume’s long functional life. Leaves with browning, stains, specks and widespread signs of use; there are ancient handwritten annotations and ownership marks, presumably linked to didactic or technical use. Title page engraved with a printer’s mark. As in many old books with a long history, there are some imperfections not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 24; 736; 230nn; (6).

Full title and author
Commentaries on the things done by themselves.
Lyon, at Antonium de Harsy, 1586.
Gaius Julius Caesar.

Context and Significance
The Commentaries on Caesar are one of the foundational texts of Western military historiography. Beyond recounting the campaigns, the work offers a systematic description of movement strategies, the organization of the legions, the construction of field fortifications, sieges, attack and defense engines, logistics management, and space control. The famous sober and apparently neutral style hides a technical construction of the war narrative, in which war is presented as a rational sequence of operational decisions. The edition edited by Iucundus fits into the humanistic project of stabilizing the Caesarian text, but it also responds to Renaissance interest in Caesar as a model of commander and military engineer, read alongside treatises on fortification, siegecraft (poliorcetics), and the art of war. The Lyon printing reflects a mature moment of this tradition: a text designed for use, analysis, and the technical transmission of martial knowledge.

Biography of the Author
Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and writer, a central figure in the late crisis of the Republic. His campaigns in Gaul and the civil war against Pompey made him a central figure in ancient military history. The Commentaries, particularly De bello Gallico and De bello civili, are considered models of Latin prose for their clarity and rhetorical control, but also reference texts for understanding ancient warfare, siege techniques, and Roman military organization.
Ioannes Iucundus Veronensis (ca. 1470–1535) was a humanist, architect, and philologist, active between Italy and France. His editorial work on classical texts, conducted with rigorous comparative study of manuscript and printed sources, contributed decisively to Renaissance philology and to the reliable transmission of the great historical and technical authors of antiquity.

Printing history and circulation
The editions of Caesar's Commentaries based on the text established by Iucundus enjoyed wide circulation in the 16th century, especially in French printing centers. Lyon, and in particular the workshop of Antoine de Harsy, was a fundamental hub for the printing of classics intended for university, military, and humanistic study, privileging functional print runs and portable formats. The high degree of wear found in the surviving copies, such as the one described here, testifies to the intensive use of the text as a working tool.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Schweiger, A. F., Handbook of Classical Bibliography, Leipzig.
Renouard, A. A., Annals of the Lyon Printing Industry in the Sixteenth Century.
Adams, H. M., Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501–1600.
USTC, an entry relating to the Lyon editions of Caesar's Commentaries edited by Ioannes Iucundus.
Goldsworthy, A., Caesar: Life of a Colossus, London, pp. 201–245 (on the military dimension).