Dionysius Halicarnaseus, Antiquitates romanae, Treviso, 1480

Dionysius Halicarnaseus

Antiquitates romanae [translated by Lampugninus Biragus]. Treviso: Bernardinus Celerius, 24 or 25 February 1480

Chancery folio (308 x 202mm.), 295 leaves (of 300), [a¹⁰ b-g⁸ h i⁶ k-z A-O⁸ P⁶], 37 lines, roman type, initial spaces, nineteenth-century notes about the books of the bible tipped in at front, early ink annotations, later calf, lacking five leaves (initial blank and four text leaves, supplied in photocopied facsimile), wormholes to first two quires and final quire (mainly marginal), repairs to first three and final four leaves, occasional spotting, binding rebacked and repaired, covers scratched

FIRST EDITION of this monumental history of Rome, from the foundation myths to the First Punic War, composed at the same time as Livy's more famous history of the same period; as a Greek himself, Dionysius emphasised the Greek origins of Rome. It is the first recorded book to be issued from Bernardinus Celerius's press at Treviso.

There are at least six variant issues of the colophon; this copy has the second half of the last quire reprinted with the translator’s name spelt ‘LAPPVS’ (see BMC VI p. 895), and d8 is without the three words stamped alongside the catchword ("& edes" has been added in manuscript).

PROVENANCE

Early ownership inscription of Matheus Carew; bookplate of Walter Goldwater (1907-1985, a collector of incunabula and a book dealer who helped to found the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America)

LITERATURE

ISTC id00250000