8vo. (XXXII, including frontispiece),439,(40 index),(1 blank) p. Modern half calf. 19 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 186438281; Schweiger 2,299; Dibdin 2,245; Moss 2,319/20; Fabricius/Ernesti I,105: 'quae locupletissima est editio'; cf. Graesse 2,270, ed. Keuchenius) (Details: The engraved frontispiece is dated 1704, and is executed by J. Visscher, depicting Clio with a pen in her hand, she receives advice from Kronos, who holds his scythe, Fama blows her trumpet. Small engraved illustrations on 12 p.) (Condition: Name on the blank margin of the frontispiece. Oval stamp on the title. Paper slightly warped and yellowing) (Note: This is an edition with commentary of the only surviving complete work of the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos, ca. 100-24 B.C., 'De excellentibus ducibus exterrarum gentium'. He is the author of the first surviving ancient collection of biographies. 'De excellentibus etc.' contains the lives of 20 Greek generals, and the Carthaginians Hamilkar and Hannibal. § Nepos corresponded with Cicero and was close with Cicero's friend Atticus. The collection served probably as a model for Plutarch's 'Vitae Parallelae'. In his own days and in late antiquity Nepos was considered to be a source of importance. The churchfather Hieronymus, included him in his 'De viris illustribus' (392 A.D.) in his list of great authors and historians. Already in late antiquity this Nepos collection was ascribed to the grammarian Aemilius Probus, and the 'editio princeps' of 1471 bears that name. § The simple style of writing of Nepos has made him a standard choice for schools. The biographies provided the pupils also models of behaviour. Schweiger mentions numerous editions. This edition is a so-called Variorum edition, an edition which contained everthing a student required. Such an edition offers the 'textus receptus' which is widely accepted, accompanied with the commentary and the annotations of specialists, taken from earlier useful, normative or renewing editions. Editions like these, 'cum notis Variorum', were useful, but never broke new ground. The production of this kind of editions was the specialty of Dutch scholars of the 17th and 18th century. The compilers seldom were great scholars, but often hard working schoolmasters. Such a useful edition was published in 1658 in Leiden by the Hackius brothers. It was produced by the young Dutch scholar R. Keuchenius (1636-1673), who matriculated in 1654, and was later in life appointed professor of Roman History of the 'Athenaeum Illustre' at Amsterdam. The edition of 1658 was revised and augmented by an anonymous editor, and republished in 1675 by the same Hackius brothers. The preface of Keuchenius to the edition of 1658 (and the testimonia) was repeated, but now anonymously. The anonymous editor seems to be Keuchenius, for the main body of his work and his own notes have been preserved. In a short 'ad lectorem' (Keuchenius in 1658, and anonymous in 1675) the editor explains that he based his edition on those of Lambinus and Longolius, and that he passim added selected observations of Gifanius, Savarus, Schottus, Boeclerus, Gebhardus, Ernesti and Bosius. He also elucidated the Lives with passages from ancient Greek historians, like Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon and Plutarch. The edition of 1675 became the model of a line of clones, including the frontispiece and illustrations. It was reprinted 'verbatim', line by line, page by page, with the same layout and the same kind of typeface by the Blaeu brothers in 1687, probably Mortier in 1704, by Janssonius van Waesberge in 1705, by Wetstein in 1707 (this edition), and by Samuel Luchtmans in 1728) (Provenance: On the frontispiece: 'B.L.W. Mensing'. Between In the second half of the 19th century B.L.W. Mensing exploited a boarding school in Schoonoord, an estate in the Dutch city of Rijswijk. (See Wikipedia, Buitenplaats Schoonoord) § On the title the stamp of: 'Huize Katwijk, De Breul, Zeist'. This school still exists, and is now called Katholieke Scholengemeenschap De Breul. (See Wikipedia) The school was established as a boarding school in 1831 in 'Katwijk aan den Rijn', and was in 1842 transfered to the Jesuits. The school moved to The Hague in 1928, then to Noordwijkerhout in 1941, and finally in1946 to 'De Breul', an estate between Zeist and Driebergen in the province Utrecht) (Collation: *-2*8; A-2G8 (leaf 2G8 verso blank)) (Photographs on request)