Beschreibung:

TACITUS, Cornelius (ca. 56-d. after 117 A.D.). Les Oeuvres de C.Cornelius Tacitus chevalier romain. A sçavoir les Annales ..., la description des meurs et des peuples de Germanie, la vie de Iules Agricola ... Le tout nouvellement mis en francois avec quelques annotations necessaires ... [par Claude Fauchet]. Paris: [Pierre le Voirrier] for Abel l'Angelier, 1582. 2° (352 x 228mm). Woodcut device of L'Angelier on title and on verso of 3A4, woodcut initials and headpieces, ruled in red throughout, (tear in Kk1 without loss of text, occasional minor spotting). CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO GILT ATTRIBUTED TO THE ROYAL BINDERS NICOLAS OR CLOVIS EVE triple gilt fillets on sides, in the centre a large laurel wreath, large corner pieces of laurel branches interspersed with dots surrounding two lilies stem to stem, smooth spine tooled to a fanfare design of quatrefoils and geometric figures within double fillets, interspersed with lilies and other flowers and laurel sprigs, gilt edges, only stubs of ties present,(minute damage to spine). In lined buckram case. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST COMPLETE TRANSLATION OF TACITUS INTO FRENCH. Claude Fauchet, a member of Ronsard's circle, translated it all, using only books II to V of the Annales , from an earlier translation by Étienne de La Planche, who in 1548 had published books I-V in French. Fauchet wanted to remain anonymous, and a 17th-century inscription on the title attributes the book to Pyrame de Candolle. The binding is very elegant, combining 'fanfare' with 'feuillage' decoration. It shares several tools, notably the two sizes of a natural lily, with a royal binding of 1585 illustrated on plate XVI of G.D.Hobson, Les Reliures á la Fanfare , 1935, as well as with other bindings belonging to Hobson's 'groupe royale', which are attributed to Nicolas or his son Clovis Eve the 'relieurs de roi'. Cf. Hobson, op.cit. p.51.