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URBIS ROMAE TOPOGRAPHIA.
(Rome: Valerio & Luigi Dorico, 1544). 308 x 208 mm. (12 1/8 x 8 1/4"). 6 p.l., 122 pp., [1] leaf. First Illustrated Edition, First Issue (per Mortimer).
Excellent 19th century russet morocco, elaborately tooled in blind, covers with decorative frame enclosing supralibros of William Stirling Maxwell, raised bands, spine compartments with blind-stamped cruciform ornament, gilt lettering, blind-ruled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With woodcut Pegasus device in colophon and 22 LARGE WOODCUTS, one oversized double-page engraving (with fore edges of sheets folded in), six full-page, two of these oversized, with folded fore edges. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Archibald Philip, Earl of Roseberry, ex-libris of David Godine, and an old bookseller description. Mortimer 284; EDIT16 CNCE 73807; USTC 841009. Culot, Jean-Claude Bozerian, roulette 42. Color of covers faintly variable, the title and likely the rest of the book carefully washed and resized, occasional minor marginal foxing, but clean and fresh internally, in a lustrous binding with almost no signs of wear.
This is an excellent copy of the first illustrated edition of an important mid-16th century work on the ancient city of Rome, featuring a suite of attractive woodcuts and offered here in a pleasing Bozerian binding. Our author, antiquarian and Augustinian friar Giovanni Bartolomeo Marliani (1488-1566), drew on a mixture of Classical authors and recent excavations to assemble a thorough description of ancient Roman topography, architecture, and sculpture. The result was the present work, which remained the prevailing authority on the topic through the 18th century, distinguished by its accuracy and level of detail. For example, Marliani's speculative location of the Roman Forum, though highly contested in his own time, was proved by later excavations to be correct. Urbis Romae Topographia was originally published in 1534 as an octavo without illustrations; the present handsome folio edition (the third overall) is the first to include the suite of desirable woodcuts. These include a mixture of maps, architectural cross-sections, and depictions of artworks. The large map of the city, by calligrapher Giovanni Battista Palatino (for whom the typeface is named) represents the first attempt at a truly accurate and scientific plan of the ancient city. On the artistic side of things, this work contains the first depiction in print of the famous marble Laocoön Group, which the young Marliani had witnessed being excavated in 1506. The elegant early 19th century binding was executed by "P. Bozerian," of the famous Bozerian family of binders, whose name has become synonymous with fine Parisian bookbinding of the First Empire. The quality and refined taste with which the present binding was produced is consistent with what is expected of a Bozerian. Our copy is from the library of Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929), the fifth Earl of Rosebery and first Earl of Midlothian. Best remembered for his lengthy career as a politician, which included a stint as Prime Minister from 1894-95, he was also a passionate bibliophile and student of history. He wrote several historical biographies and essays, and filled the library of his country estate with an extensive collection of rare books and manuscripts, ranging from unique Scottish historical manuscripts (much of which now resides in the National Library of Scotland) to literary first editions, incunabula, and a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, which fetched a record-breaking price exceeding £14,000 at Sotheby's in 1933. More recently, our copy belonged to American publisher David R. Godine, who trained as a printer at Leonard Baskin's Gehenna Press before founding his own publishing firm in 1970. His interest in the art of the book led him to build an extensive library of early printed books, with a particular focus on French illustrated works. Two portions of his collection sold for more than $950,000 at Bonham's New York in May 2026. (ST21070)
Price: $19,500.00