Dionysius Halicarnassensis

Antiquitates romanae [translated from Greek into Latin by Lampugninus Biragus]

Treviso: Bernardinus Celerius, 24 or 25 February, 1480. Folio (272 x 192 mm), unsigned: [110 2-78 8-96 10-378 386]; 300 leaves, unnumbered, first leaf blank; leaf 333 with tear in the middle of the text, but no loss; leaves 192 and 197 in facsimile; occasional contemporary manuscript annotations in ink in the margins; printed catchwords on versos of leaves 12, 14 and 110r; thereafter the same basic pattern, in each quire, of a catchword on versos of the first 3 (in 6's, 2) leaves (sheet catchwords), and the final verso (quire catchword); type 113R, 37 lines, with printed shoulder notes; capital spaces, with guide letters; 17th-century full parchment, later maroon morocco label lettered in gilt on spine. In this copy leaf 386r, reads (all caps): "Lappus Biragus Flor / Impressum Taruisii per Bernardinum Celerium de Luere. Anno chr. Nati. / M. CCCC. LXXX. Bissexto kl. Martias / Ioanne Mocenigo Veneto / rum duce inclyto." "Known in at least 6 issues, frequently mixed: see GW" (ISTC). The translator, Lampugnino Birago, has been variously referred to as Lampo, Lappo or Lapo, and as a result is often confused with Lapo da Castiglionchio il Giovane - thus the attribution of the translation to "Lappus Biragus Florentinus" in editions of this work; see M. Miglio, "Birago, Lampugnino", in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Dionysius of Halicarnassensis (ca. 60 BC to after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric. This history of Rome was his most important work. He also wrote several books on rhetoric and style. GW 8423; Goff D-250; HC 6239; BM-XV Century VI, 895. Item #54472

Price: $6,500.00