| Record ID | cp012234 |
| Voet reference number | 854 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | |
| Author | Caius Julius CAESAR |
| Title page transcription | C. IVLII CAESARIS ‖ COMMENTARII, ‖ Nouis emendationibus illustrati. ‖ EIVSDEM ‖ LIBRORVM, QVI DESIDERAN- ‖ TVR, FRAGMENTA. ‖ Ex bibliotheca ‖ FVLVI VRSINI ROMANI. ‖ Quæ præterea in hoc libro contineantur, ‖ sequens pagina indicabit. ‖ ⊕ 21 ‖ ANTVERPIAE, ‖ Ex officina Christoph. Plantini. ‖ CIƆ.D.LXX. |
| Collation | 8⁰ [131]: *⁸, †⁴, A-E⁸, A-Z⁸, a-k⁸; pages [1-24], 1-79, [80], 1-499, [500-528] (Errors: 165 for 195, 167 for 197, 398 for 298) |
| Fingerprint | 157008 - # 1a1 *2 rat : # 1a2 *5 alter - # 2a1 + h : # 2a2 +3 $e - # 1b1 A $ : # 1b2 E5 ,$an - # 2b1 A &$ : # 2b2 Z5 ,$de - # 3b1 a $ : # 3b2 k5 $mu |
| Number of sheets | 39.50 |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: Table [3-5]: Fabio Farnesio equiti Hierosolymitano Fulvius Ursinus signed by (Rome, 21 May 1569) [6-9]: Ad Paullum Rhamnusium Io. Baptistae filium, de historiae laudibus, Pauli Manutii epist. (italic type) [10-12]: Illustrissimae Aetheriorum Academiae, Ioannes Michael Brutus S.D [13-15]: Nomina locorum…quae his in Commentariis habentur…(italic type; on two columns) [16-24]: Technical illustrations, with comments by Ioannes Iucundus Veronensis 1-24: Epistolarum fragmenta (italic type, parts in roman type and greek type, marginals in roman type) 25-79: Emendationes…(roman type and italic type, parts in greek type) [80]: Blank 1-336: Text of Caesar (italic type) 337-453: Text of the works of Hirtius (italic type) 454-499: Veterum Galliae locorum…alphabetica descriptio…quae apud Caesarem in Commentariis sunt, et apud Cornelium Tacitum, auctore Raymundo Marliano…(italic type) [500-526]: Libellus variarum lectionum (on two columns; note at the end in italic type) [527]: EXCVDEBAT ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ CHRISTOPHORVS PLANTINVS ‖ ANNO DOM. CIƆ. IƆ. LXX.V. ‖ KALEND. MART [528]: Blank |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | 1) 5 woodcuts by Cornelis Muller, 90 × 60, illustrating the notes of Joannes Jucundus on the siege of cities of Gaul by Caesar: Avaricum (pages [16] and [19]), Alexia [Alesia] (page [21]), Massilia (page [23]), Uxelodunum (page [24]) 2) two woodcut-maps by Guillaume van Parijs, 130 × 170, showing Gaul and Spain, on loose sheets to be inserted in the work |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- A 172- K 348Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience AntwerpKBR Royal Library of BelgiumCambridgeBiblioteca Nacional de PortugalBiblioteca Nacional de EspañaBibliothèque nationale de France |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, page 103 (1570, no. 23).Cockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 527 |
| Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12926084USTC 404607 |
| Note 1 | Plantin had already in 1564-1566 the intention of publishing Caesar's works and had made some preparations: on 23 June 1564 he noted, under the heading 'Commentaria Cȩsaris', the payment of 3 florins Carolus guilders to Cornelis Muller 'pour 5 figures pont et chasteaux' and of 6 florins Carolus guilders to 'Guillaume de Paris, fils de Sylvestre' 'pour les deux cartes' (Arch. 4, folio 88; cf. Arch. 3, folio 14r and Arch. 31, folio 65r [C. Muller]), and in January 1566 the payment of 1 florins Carolus guilders to the schoolmaster Antoine Tyron 'pour lescritures des Annot. de Caesar et Aule Gelle' (Arch. 31, folio 83v). He had, however, to postpone the project. As he explains in a letter to Cardinal Granvelle, end December 1567 - beginning of January 1568 (Corr., I, no 99; cf. L. Voet, The Golden Compasses, II, page 287): 'Je n'ay point imprimé Commentaria Caesaris. Vray est que, passé 3 ans, j'avois prié plusieurs personnages doctes de me donner leurs observations sur ledict aucteur et avois obtenu quelques corrections et aussi quelques exemplaires escrits à la main et le tout livré à un jeune homme docte nommé Obertus Gifanius (duquel j'ay imprimé le Lucretius, amendé après l'édition de Dionys. Lambinus), pour lors demeurant en ceste ville, pour conférer le tout et le mectre en ordre pour l'imprimer'. Gifanius, however, left Antwerp for France and Italy; from Venice he had written to Plantin on 19 November 1567 that he again was working on Caesar and other classical authors. But, concludes Plantin, 'voiant telles longueurs, je l'ay commencé en la forme dont j'envoye ici 4 cahiers pour monstre. Nonobstant quoy, je ne laisserois à l'imprimer in 8⁰, lorsque j'auray receu autre meilleure copie'. This last paragraph seems to imply that Plantin at the end of 1567 had already started printing an edition of Caesar in another format than in 8⁰, but was willing to interrupt the work and to start again in an in 8⁰ format using a better text. This he did, explicitly at the urging of Cardinal Granvelle, who made Plantin print the works of Caesar in 8⁰ with additions by the Roman humanist, Fulvius Ursinus (Orsini): the 1570-publication described here. |
| Note 2 | This 1570-edition includes the following works of Caesar: Epistolarum fragmenta ex libro epistolarum ad M.T.C. (pages 1-24), De bello Gallico (1-205), De bello civili (206-336), and is completed by the works attributed to Aulus Hirtius: De bello Alexandrino (pages 336-378), De bello Africano (379-429), De bello Hispaniensi (430-453). It contains also: a note of Paulus Manutius on 'De historiae laudibus' ([6-9]); a note of Joannes Michael Brutus (Bruto) in a philosophical-moralizing vein and of no specific interest for Caesar or his writings ([10-12]); a list of names of ancient Gaul ([13-15]); notes of Joannes Jucundus Veronensis explaining the technical illustrations ([16-24]); 'emendationes' on the works of Caesar and Hirtius (25-79); an alphabetical description by Raymundus Marlianus of places and peoples in Gaul as noted in Caesar and Tacitus (454-499), a 'Libellus variarum lectionum' ([500-526]), with references to a 'Carrariensis codex, antiquissimus' [the 'lectiones' of this codex published by J.M. Bruto in Lyons, Gryphius, 1560: cf. Battistini in De Gulden Passer, 1954, page 40], an edition printed by Gryphius in Lyons [perhaps the same as Bruto's edition], an edition printed 60 years ago in Florence [Philippus Junta published the Commentarii at Florence in 1508 and 1514], editions published in Paris by Robertus Stephanus [in 1544] and Vascosan [in 1543]). |
| Note 3 | In the dedicatory to Fabius Farnesius, Fulvius Ursinus tells that having had the good fortune to acquire a manuscript copy of the Commentarii written some six centuries ago, which proved to be very trustworthy, he had, at the urging of friends, decided to edit the Fragmenta together with a number of emendationes on the other works (including notes he got from Octavius Pantagathus and Gabriel Faernus). The contribution of F. Ursinus is, consequently, limited to the edition of the Fragmenta (pages 1-24), to the Emendationes (pages 25-79), and perhaps to the Libellus variarum lectionum at the end (pages [500-526]). The other parts of the publication, including the text of the Commentarii and of Hirtius's works, must have been compiled or taken from previous editions (the index of Marlianus had appeared already in 1477, Milan, and the notes of Joannes Jucundus in his 1513-edition published in Venice by Aldus Manutius: cf. Brunet, I, Columns 1453-1454; the dedicatory to the members of the Accademia degli Aethereorum by Bruto in the Paulus Manutius editions of Caesar, Venice, 1564 and 1566: cf. Battistini in De Gulden Passer, 1954, page 47). |
| Note 4 | The long correspondence with Granvelle on the publication of Caesar started on 22 November 1567 with the Cardinal telling Plantin that Ursinus liked to have a copy of the 'commentaires de Julle Cesar aussi de vostre impression' (Suppl. Corr., no. 44). Plantin's letter of end 1567 or beginning 1568, quoted above (Corr., I, no. 99), in which he explains that so far he had not yet published the Commentarii but was working on such an edition, does not seem to be a direct reply to Granvelle's letter of 22 November, but supposes some intermediary epistles, which have been lost. In any case, Granvelle could tell Plantin on 29 January 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 49) that he had received the first [printed] sheets of Caesar and had passed them, together with Plantin's letters, to Ursinus; adding that he told the Roman humanist that Plantin, having received the 'corrections de Lambinus', intended to print another edition in 8⁰. The Cardinal, however, expresses the wish that Ursinus should be asked for advice ('...et luy ay dict ce que vous mescripvez, que ayant les corrections de Lambinus vous en imprimerez ung aultre in octavo, en quoy je tiens que ledict Fulvius vous aydera, car oultre les varietez des lections, quil ha annotté, il a plus de trois cens passaiges, ou en ceulx qui vont par le monde il y a faulte manifeste, comme je pense il vous escripvra…'). Granvelle, consequently, had the idea that the Commentarii Plantin was printing at that time were edited by Dionysius Lambinus, a professor at the Royal College at Paris. In a letter of 7 February 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 50) he presses the point: as he has heard in the meantime that Lambinus has converted to Calvinism, he warns Plantin not to print the works of the French scholar. The printer assured the Cardinal that the prelate must have misunderstood him: he had only written that Obertus Gifanius, who had in the past corrected Lucretius after the edition of Lambinus, had also promised corrections on Caesar; not that these corrections or the edition itself were made by Lambinus. Moreover, 'Quant au Cesar, i'en differe l'impression iusques a ce qu'il ait pleu au S. Fulvio Ursino nous envoyer sa copie, laquelle receu, ie n'ay pas intention d'en attendre quelque autre de qui que ce soit' (letter of 17 March 1568: Suppl. Corr., no. 56). From now on, in nearly every letter to or from Granvelle, details are given about the publication, which, however, dragged on for nearly two years: letter from Granvelle, 27 April 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 66): he mails 'de la part du Seigneur Fulvio Ursino les corrections du Commentaire de Julle Caesar, en aulcuns lieux importans'; to Granvelle, 26 June 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 68): Plantin is not able to start printing Caesar before the end of August; from Granvelle, 16 July 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 70): the prelate is glad that Plantin received the text of Ursinus on Caesar in good order from Granvelle, 30 September 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 75), 16 October 1568 (Ibidem, no. 75), and 19 November 1568 (Ibidem, no. 78): the prelate inquires how the work is proceeding; to Granvelle, 20 November 1568 (Corr., II, no. 158): excuses for postponing the printing; to Granvelle, 10 December 1568 (Corr., II, no. 159): will start printing the Commentarii Caesaris 'si je n'ay autre advis de Sr. Fulvius Ursinus'. On 29 December 1568 (Suppl. Corr., no. 79) Granvelle tells Plantin that he passed the printer's letter of 20 November, with his excuses for postponing the printing, to Ursinus, whilst on 31 December 1568 (Corr., II, no. 163) Plantin explains to the prelate that he had not yet begun with Caesar, waiting for Ursinus's instructions. Letter from Granvelle, 15 January 1569 (Suppl. Corr., no. 80): the Cardinal wishes the edition to be printed in 8⁰; to Granvelle, 5 February 1569 (Corr., II, no. 167), and 27 February 1569 (Corr., II, no. 168): Plantin hopes to mail shortly some sheets of Caesar. In the meantime Granvelle wrote to Plantin, 5 February 1569 (Suppl. Corr., no. 81) that Ursinus insists on having his 'annotations' printed quickly, and that, if Plantin had not yet started, he would like to have his text back to have it published at Venice. But the work had started and Granvelle and Ursinus accepted Plantin's apologies for the delay (letters from Granvelle, 17 March 1569 [Suppl. Corr., no. 84] and 2 April 1569 [Ibidem, no. 85]; Plantin to Ursinus, end March 1569 [Corr., II, no. 170]). On 26 March 1569 Plantin could mail the first sheets to Granvelle (Corr., II, no. 169; cf. also Plantin's letter of mid-May 1569: Ibidem, no. 174; on 17 June 1569 [Suppl. Corr., no. 88] Granvelle replied that he had forwarded the sheets to Ursinus). Plantin considered Ursinus's contribution - the Fragmenta and the annotations - to be something quite apart from the Commentarii proper (and indeed they have a separate pagination): in his letter of 18 June 1569 to the Roman scholar (Corr., II, no. 177) he makes this very clear, specifying at the same time that this, Ursinus's part in the publication, being now finished, he would continue the Commentarii themselves at a moderate pace ('Je croy que, par le reste des feilles des fragments et autres du commencement des Commentaires de Caesar aurés maintenant veu que je suis délibéré d'imprimer vostre dédicatoire, ainsi qu'il le vous plaira ordonner, et envoyer, soit avec les fragments et annotations seulement ou avec ledict Caesar, que j'espère de continuer peu à peu, ainsi que de ce temps ici j'en puis prendre l'occasion'). And this he did, at a very moderate pace: according to the colophon the edition was only finished on 25 February 1570. On 2 March 1570 Plantin mailed a copy to Ursinus (Corr., II, no. 220; see also Plantin's letters to Granvelle of 27 August 1569 [Corr., II, no. 180], 7 November 1569 [Ibidem, no. 190], 16 December 1569 [Ibidem, no. 199], 28 January 1570 [Ibidem, no. 202], 28 January 1570 [Ibidem, no. 203], 4 February 1570 [Ibidem, no. 207], 18 February 1570 [Ibidem, no. 210]; and to A. Francquart, 23 February 1570 [Ibidem, no. 213]). Some 100 copies had reached E. Beys at Paris on 19 March 1570 (Corr., II, no. 223). |
| Note 5 | Listed in M 296, folio 2v (Commentaria Caesaris in 8⁰, a⁰ -, f[euilles] -, [price:] stuivers 8), and M 164, folio 6r. |
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