Very rare edition of Guevara's extremely popular and partly fictional biography of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180), which made the emperor a paragon of virtue and a popular subject in art and literature. Guevara claimed to have discovered an ancient manuscript containing twenty letters written by Marcus Aurelius, publishing them in the second half of his book, but in fact he invented them and used them as a didactic and literary device. This imaginative fictional basis for his biography no doubt resulted in a much more popular book than any true story could have, for it spoke to his contemporaries and provided a model for a wise ruler.
With 2 owner's inscriptions on title-page. Some occasional browning and a small tear and hole in title-page, otherwise in very good condition. STCN (1 copy); not in Bibl. Belg.; Simoni.