Cesare - Quae Exstant - 1651

CESARE – THE CONQUEST OF GAUL AND THE WARS OF ROME - NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
Important sixteenth-century edition of Julius Caesar’s works, published in Leiden in 1651 by Adrianus Wyngaerden, with commentary and cura of Arnoldus Montanus and the geographical and philological contributions of Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero. A monumental work of Roman historiography, devoted to the military campaigns that transformed the Republic and prepared the birth of the Empire. The edition is distinguished by its allegorical engraved title page, the large folded map of ancient Europe, the illustrations of Roman military techniques, and the very rich apparatus of commentaries. A specimen preserved in its contemporaneous full parchment binding, with old ownership notes.

ABSTRACT
Valuable Dutch edition of 1651 of Caesar’s surviving works, curated by Arnoldus Montanus and enriched by observations of numerous classical and humanist commentators. The volume includes the famous Commentarii de bello Gallico and Caesar’s other writings in the Caesaric corpus, accompanied by an extensive exegetical and historical apparatus. Particularly significant are Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero’s contributions on the geography of Gaul and the identification of places and peoples mentioned by Caesar. The iconographic apparatus comprises an elaborate allegorical frontispiece, a folded map, and two engraved plates, as described bibliographically for the exemplar. Completing the edition are a broad index and a section of typographical corrections.

WHY TO BUY
- Important Variorum edition of Caesar’s works from 1651.
- Large folded geographical map and engravings dedicated to Roman military engineering.
- Commentaries by Arnoldus Montanus and geographical contributions by Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero.
- Contemporaneous parchment binding and interesting sixteenth-seventeenth-century philological apparatus.

MARKET VALUE
The presence of the folded map, the engravings, the allegorical frontispiece, and the contemporaneous binding contribute to its collectible interest. A prudent auction estimate could be placed between €500 and €700.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporaneous full parchment binding, smooth spine with an ancient handwritten title, natural page edges. Engraved allegorical frontispiece in copper, a large folded map, and two engraved plates, one of which depicting Roman military structures and machines. Latin text with roman and italic type, extensive notes in two columns, ornate initials, typographic ornaments, index, and corrigenda. Parchment with natural aging, spine with ancient inscriptions. Internally well preserved, with some browning and physiological foxing, small stains and occasional signs of time. Ancient handwritten ownership notes. In old books with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Please refer to the original photographs to verify the object's actual conditions. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 10 nn; 864; 26 nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
C. Iulii Caesaris quae exstant.
Lugd. Bat., Ex Officina Adriani Wyngaerden, 1651.
C. Iulii Caesaris.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Caesar’s Commentaries constitute one of the fundamental testimonies of ancient military and political history. Through the account of the Gallic campaigns, operations against Germanic and British peoples, and the civil wars, Caesar built a narrative that would profoundly influence Western historiography. His style, renowned for its precision and sobriety, became a model of Latin prose and the art of political communication. The Variorum editions of the seventeenth century represented a decisive moment in the transmission of the classics: they gathered and compared the interpretations of different scholars, turning the ancient text into a tool for historical, geographical, and philological research. This 1651 edition belongs to the great Leiden editorial tradition, one of Europe’s leading centers of learned humanism. The map and the military engravings attest to modern scholars’ interest in the concrete reconstruction of territories, fortifications, and warfare techniques described by Caesar.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) was a general, statesman, writer, and a central figure in the final crisis of the Roman Republic. After an extraordinary political and military career, he conquered much of Gaul between 58 and 50 BCE, greatly expanding Roman dominion and consolidating his prestige. The subsequent conflict with Pompey and the Senate culminated in civil war and the establishment of his personal power. Assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BCE, he left a political legacy that would ultimately transform Rome. His Commentarii de bello Gallico and Commentarii de bello civili are considered masterpieces of Latin historical prose. Arnoldus Montanus, a learned Dutchman of the seventeenth century, contributed to the diffusion of the classics through editorial works and historical compilations. Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero (1540–1609), one of the great philologists of European humanism, revolutionized chronological and historical studies by applying rigorous critical methods to ancient testimonies.

PRINTING HISTORY
The edition was printed in 1651 in Leiden by Adrianus Wyngaerden, within the Dutch editorial milieu that had made publishing Latin classics one of its most prestigious sectors. Montanus’s work fits within the tradition of Variorum editions, characterized by the systematic gathering of commentary from different generations of scholars. The volume integrates the Caesar text with historical, linguistic, military, and geographical notes, including those of Giuseppe Giusto Scaligero. The frontispiece presents an elaborate allegorical scene of a military character, while the folded map illustrates the territories affected by the Roman campaigns. The technical plates document seventeenth-century erudites’ interest in ancient military engineering. The presence of a separate Notitia Galliae section and an analytical index testifies to the encyclopedic ambition of the edition. It is a significant seventeenth-century printing of Caesar’s works, not their first edition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres, entry Caesar; Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, entry Caesar; Schweiger, Handbuch der klassischen Bibliographie, section on C. Julius Caesar; STCN, catalog of Dutch editions of the seventeenth century, for bibliographic verification of the Leiden 1651 impression.