Nero Caesar,

illustrated with engravings of Roman coins

The first edition of this history of the reign of Emperor Nero (AD 37-68) by the antiquarian Edmund Bolton (c.1573-1634).

Bolton was among the earliest historians to draw upon non-literary sources such as the coins illustrated within this book and the inscriptions taken from published collections by the likes of William Camden as evidence for his work. 'It is thus one of the earliest English attempts to synthesise humanist narrative history with philological and antiquarian scholarship' (ODNB).

The book itself is somewhat sycophantic in its plea for patronage from the King's favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), stressing the virtues of strong role. Yet, 'Bolton's purpose was not to apologise for Nero's reign but to compare its severity with the benefits of Stuart government. Bolton further argued that even the most despotic rule must not be resisted by rebellion; the consequences of Nero's deposition, monster though he may have been, were endless successive rebellions and depositions throughout the remainder of Roman imperial history. The language of the preface suggests that the work was encouraged by James I himself, perhaps through Buckingham, and Bolton may have intended it as a working out of some of the king's own ideas on monarchy, and part of a comprehensive, pro-monarchist 'Imperial historie' (an earlier manuscript, the 'life' or 'historie' of Tiberius, composed and delivered to James I some time before 1623, was never published)' (ODNB).

First edition; folio (28 x 19.5 cm); engraved additional title, engraved medallions (i.e. Roman coins) present (ESTC mentions two further variants, one without the medallions, and the other with two additional quires printed in the second edition of 1627), []4 cancel, a few small old wormholes running throughout the text block, engraved title a little soiled, a little browned; contemporary sprinkled calf, sometime rebacked, worm damage to boards, slightly rubbed with loss to lower headcap and joints; [18], 288pp.

ESTC S107099; STC 3221.