I, Claudius

First published in 1934, this historical novel is cast as the secret autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, a lame, stammering scholar of the Julio-Claudian house who is written off as a fool. Claudius recounts the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula from inside the palace: Livia's management of the succession, the deaths and exiles that thin the family, Germanicus's campaigns, and the atmosphere of informers and poisoned banquets. He survives by being underestimated. The book is a court chronicle in the first person, covering Roman imperial politics from the end of the Republic's last generation to the crisis that will put Claudius himself on the throne.

Bound in green buckram with a repeat pattern in gold by Packer. Cream endleaves with a genealogical table in green by Denys Baker. Green slipcase.