Publius (Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus. / Ioannes Fenacolius - [VERY RARE FIRST PRINT / DELFT] De Hoogchberoemde Historien van C. Cornelius Tacitus (...) - 1616

Publius (of Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus / Ioannes Fenacolius [Jan Leendertsz. Vennecool] - The Highly Famous Histories of C. Cornelius Tacitus, mayor of Rome. (....). With the true portraits of the twelve first Roman Emperors, cut in copper plates.

[ACCOMPANYING] Historical commentaries, or brief historical notes for the explanation of many obscurities in Tacitus and other Roman historians here and there happening. (...)

Delft, Adriaen Gerritsen / Leiden, Abrahamsz vander Marsse, 1616 - 3 parts in 1 book - (7) + 429 + (17) leaves (x2 is the number of pages) - half-linen binding - 26 x 21 cm (QUARTO format)

Condition: very good - very neat newer binding (like new); very neat and clean pages (title engraving part 1 in copy, a moisture stain in the margin of a few quires, some stray typical light smudges and small spots, one small bite, otherwise very neat and clean paper!). Complete.

[PLEASE NOTE] some of the photos have yellowed from sunlight.

Very, very rare and early FIRST EDITION in Dutch!
No information or other locations found.
Rare edition from Delft.

Equipped with all the beautiful portraits (wood engravings).
3 parts in 1 book, each with its own title page.

Collectors-item!

The honorary title "great Prince of Historians" (the prince among historians) was at the time a direct legacy of the influential humanist Justus Lipsius. Lipsius had proclaimed Tacitus as the most important political thinker and historian of antiquity. Indeed around 1616 Tacitus was unbelievably popular in the young Dutch Republic. His descriptions of the Batavian Uprising formed the basis for the 'Batavian myth'. Dutch intellectuals and writers, such as Hugo Grotius and P.C. Hooft (known as the 'Dutch Tacitus'), liked to mirror the Dutch uprising against Spain in this glorious history.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56–117) was a Roman consul, historian, writer and orator. He is often regarded as the greatest historian of Rome, or even of the Roman Empire. Tacitus' sympathies clearly favored a republican form of government, rather than the caprice of some emperors.

Due to his versatility and complexity, he has even been cited by later thinkers with opposing political views, who nonetheless used Tacitus to bolster their own positions. He writes about emperors and rulers with the same ease as about people of lesser importance, thus providing insight into the life of his time.