VICO, Enea - Lot 5

VICO, Enea Augustarum imagines aereis formis expressae ; vitæ quoque earundem breviter enarratæ, Signorum etiam, quæ in posteriori parte numismatu[m] efficta su[n]t ratio explicata Venice, [Paolo Manuzio], 1558 NUMISMATICS AND WOMEN OF POWER IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. "WELL PRINTED AND UNCOMMON" ACCORDING TO RENOUARD. First edition of Natale Conti's Latin translation, dedicated to Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg. In-4 (224 x 165 mm). Woodcut initials COLLATION: a4 b6 A-Z4 2A6, i.e. 10 ff. n. ch., 192 pp. 2 ff. n. ch. ILLUSTRATION: engraved intaglio title depicting Minerva and Saturn, unsigned copper-engraved frontispiece portrait of Julius Caesar, 63 full-page copper engravings in the text, all numbered and decorated with rich architectural frames, 38 wood-engraved medals and coins in the text. PRINTING: engravings in 2nd state, portraits of Cossutia (pl. IV) and Servilia (pl. XI) removed; pl. XV and pl. XXIII without portrait or address; pl. XVIII and XIX (which had been inverted at the time of printing) cut out and pasted back in place EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BINDING. Brown marbled calf, framed with cold-stamped fillets, long ornate spine, red edges. PROVENANCE : Pierre Berès catalog, November 1987 -- Pierre Jammes (Paris, October 12-13, 2010, no. 269) Epidermized binding, top cover torn off, hinges cracked, one corner restored, marginal wetness. This work is a compilation of short biographies on important women, the Augusta, from the Julio-Claudian to the Vespasian dynasties. Dennis Rhodes has shown that this Latin edition, like the Italian original dated 1557, was printed by Vincenzo Valgrisi. BIBLIOGRAPHY : USTC 863206 -- Brunet, V, col. 1175 -- Renouard, p. 176, no. 18 -- Mortimer, Italian, II, no. 533 -- Adams, V-634