Smetius, Inscriptionum antiquarum quae passim per Europam liber, Leiden, 1588, vellum, Werdenstein-Munich copy

Smetius, Martinus. Inscriptionum antiquarum quae passim per Europam, liber. Accessit auctarium a Iusto Lipsio. Leiden: Frans van Ravelingen, 1588

A comprehensive collection of reproductions of Roman and Greek inscriptions, including the Capitoline Tables, funerary monuments and altars. Many of the monuments were in the private collections of cardinals and other Roman collectors, and some were taken from printed sources such as Apian, Simeoni and Panvinio.

Smetius (1525-ca 1578) studied in Louvain (alongside Marc Laurin) before spending time in Italy in the service of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi. His book on inscriptions had a troubled history; the manuscript he wrote for Marc Laurin was mostly burned in a fire along with all his notes, then the reworked manuscript was taken from Laurin during the wars in the Netherlands and came to England, where it was sold in 1585 and bought by the University of Leiden, following which Lipsius had it published with some additions of his own (Jan Verboden, "Martinus Smetius et Angelo Colocci: une collection romaine d'inscriptions antiques au XVIe siècle", Humanistica Lovaniensia 34 (1985), 255-272, p.257).

An additional two-leaf dedication to Leiden University is recorded in some copies, but is not present here.

Folio (370 x 245 mm). Roman and italic type. collation: †⁴ *⁴ A-H⁸ I¹⁰ K-Y⁸; Aa-Cc⁸ Dd⁶; a-b⁴ c⁶ d-f⁴ g⁶: 244 leaves (Y8 blank). Engraved title-page, woodcut initials, numerous woodcut illustrations of inscriptions, a printed correction slip pasted to E5v. (Engraved title slightly stained, quire * and a few other leaves lightly browned, purple oval ink stamp mostly erased from flyleaf.)

binding: Old vellum (381 x 260 mm), manuscript lettering on spine, slits from two pairs of ties, green edges, later paper index tabs. (Small hole in spine, binding slightly warped and lightly stained.)

provenance: Johann Georg von Werdenstein (1542-1608, canon of Augsburg and Eichstätt), inscription at foot of title-page dated 1588 (his extensive library purchased in 1592 by Wilhelm V of Bavaria) — Electoral library of Bavaria, large armorial bookplate (eventually becoming the Bavarian State Library; duplicates were sold in the nineteenth century) — Hartung & Hartung, Munich, sale, 13-15 May 2003, lot 288. acquisition: Purchased in 2003 from Maggs Bros, London. references: STCN 840328036; USTC 422669; not in Voet