VICO, Enea, et Antonio ZANTANI - Lot 6

VICO, Enea, et Antonio ZANTANI Omnium Caesarum verissimae imagines ex antiquis numismatis desumptae Venice, Paul Manuce, 1553 RARE EMBLEMATIC LYONNAIS BINDING, WITH FREEHAND GRIFFIN HEAD, GILDED FILLETS AND PAINTED WITH WAX. ALDINE EDITION OF AN EARLY NUMISMATIC WORK. ELEGANT ILLUSTRATION IN A MANNERIST AND VENITIAN STYLE First Aldine Edition In-4 (224 x 153 mm). Latin translation of the text by Antonio Zantani. Engraved initials ILLUSTRATION: title frontispiece and 12 framed medallion portraits of the twelve Caesars in pure Venetian Mannerist style, 72 copper-engraved plates depicting various coins and medals from the reigns of each Caesar - including 10 new plates from the Italian edition of 1548. ANNOTATION: marginal annotations and contemporary handwritten foliotation CONTEMPORARY MOSAIC BINDING. Brown calf, decorated with gilt and wax-painted fillets in silver and black on a background riddled with gold, long ornate spine, chased gilt edges. Case PROVENANCE : former Rossignol collection (ex-libris) Spine redone A handsome collection of antique coins and medals published in Venice by Paul Manuce and the Alde family. The text is a Latin translation of Antonio Zantani's work, published in Italian in 1548. The volume bears the date 1554, but it is in fact the first Latin edition of 1553, to which an I and an L have been added to the date, as is the case with a number of copies. The remarkable illustration, much enriched in comparison with the Italian edition of 1548, is the work of the Italian engraver Enea Vico (1520-1570), who had a passion for the study of antique medals. BIBLIOGRAPHY : USTC 863199 -- Mortimer, Italian, 557-- Brunet, V, col. 1174-- Cigognara, 3056 (to date 1548) -- Renouard, Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde, p. 158, n°21 -- Ahmanson-Murphy, 452 -- not in Adams