A classical scholar from the University of Oxford, Henry Furneaux (1829 1900) specialised in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. This work acquired the name of Annals for the style of history it presents, dealing with events year by year, rather than thematically. The Annals cover the reigns of four Roman emperors, beginning after the death of Augustus. The work originally consisted of sixteen books dealing with a period of 54 years, but several of them are incomplete or have not survived at all. This volume contains the text of Books 13 to 16 (the final book being incomplete), and covers the reign of Nero, a subject which brought out to the full Tacitus' famous style of condemnation through cutting irony. This reissue is taken from Pitman's 1904 edition, abridged 'to serve the needs of students requiring a less copious and advanced commentary' than that supplied by Furneaux.

A lecturer at the University of Bristol, Pitman published this edition of Tacitus' Annals in Oxford in 1912. The title of the work derives from Tacitus' style of history, which he dealt with on a year-by-year basis. Annals covered the reigns of four Roman emperors, beginning after the death of Augustus. Of the 16 original books covering a period of 54 years, much of what Tacitus wrote has not survived. This edition of Annals includes four books: the incomplete Book 5 and Book 6, which cover the final years and death of Tiberius, and Books 11 and 12 which cover the end of the reign of Claudius. (Books 7 to 10 are missing.) The text and introduction are from the 1894 edition by Henry Furneaux; Pitman's intention is 'to serve the needs of students requiring a less copious and advanced commentary' than that supplied by Furneaux.