Josephus, De antiquitate Judaica & De bello Judaico, Verona, 1480, later vellum

Flavius Josephus

De antiquitate Judaica. De bello Judaico [translated by Rufinus Aquileiensis, edited by Ludovicus Cendrata]. Verona: Petrus Maufer, de Maliferis, for Innocens Ziletus, 25 December 1480

folio (300 x 206mm.), 214 leaves, [*²] a¹⁰ b⁸ c⁶ d–k kk l–x⁸ y⁶ A–C⁸ D⁶, 35-36 lines, roman type, old vellum with archival-style leather straps with vellum lacing, new endpapers (binding repaired in 2005), slight stain in quire r and a few other small stains

A TALL CRISP COPY of the first printing of Josephus in Italy. The printer, Maufer, from Rouen, printed in Verona up to about 1480 before moving his press to Venice and also being involved in printing in Modena and Cremona.

The text is dedicated by the editor, the Veronese scholar Ludovico Cendrata (a pupil of Guarino Veronese), to Antonio Donato, a Venetian patrician and ambassador, who in 1480 was a governor of Verona.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ij00484000

PROVENANCE:

faint ink stamp on first leaf