Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 28
VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS. ET AL. Scriptores rei militaris. Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1494.
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$15,000 - US$25,000
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VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS. ET AL.
Scriptores rei militaris. Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1494.
BOUND WITH: HERODIANUS OF SYRIA. c.165-250. Historia de imperio post Marcum. Bologna: Bazalerius de Bazaleriis, 1493.
4to (225 x 155 mm). First work with decorative woodcut initials throughout and several typographical diagrams of troop formations in the text; title page with two heraldic shields drawn in red ink by an early hand, final page with outline drawing of one of the eschutcheons. Contemporary calf-backed wooden boards, contemporary ink titling on upper board, leather on boards tooled with vine of rosettes, raised bands, original brass and leather clasps, modern cloth clamshell box. Some chips to spine, light dampstain to leather, minor worming to paste-downs and margins of first and last few leaves.
Provenance: Kenneth Rapoport (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION of the first work, edited by Johannes Sulpitius Verulanus. this is the first printing of a famous collection of works on the Roman military system and methods, usually listed under "Vegetius," the 4th century imperial bureaucrat whose work is the chief treatise in the group. The text also includes the "Strategemata" of Sextus Julius Frontinus (30-104 A.D.), Roman magistrate and governor of Britain from 74-78; "De Instruendis," a work on tactics by Aelianus (2nd century A.D. Greek); the "De Vocabulis rei Militaris" of Julius Modestus, a Roman grammarian in the time of Augustus; and "De Optimo Imperatore," the Latin translation of "Strategikos," a comprehensive guide to being a good general by the Greek Platonic philosopher Onosander (1st century A.D.). Bound together with Herodianus, translated into Latin by Angelus Politianus, a colorful history in eight books covering the period from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 to the beginning of the reign of Gordianus III in 238. BMC IV, 116 and 834; Goff S-344 and H-87.
BOUND WITH: HERODIANUS OF SYRIA. c.165-250. Historia de imperio post Marcum. Bologna: Bazalerius de Bazaleriis, 1493.
4to (225 x 155 mm). First work with decorative woodcut initials throughout and several typographical diagrams of troop formations in the text; title page with two heraldic shields drawn in red ink by an early hand, final page with outline drawing of one of the eschutcheons. Contemporary calf-backed wooden boards, contemporary ink titling on upper board, leather on boards tooled with vine of rosettes, raised bands, original brass and leather clasps, modern cloth clamshell box. Some chips to spine, light dampstain to leather, minor worming to paste-downs and margins of first and last few leaves.
Provenance: Kenneth Rapoport (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION of the first work, edited by Johannes Sulpitius Verulanus. this is the first printing of a famous collection of works on the Roman military system and methods, usually listed under "Vegetius," the 4th century imperial bureaucrat whose work is the chief treatise in the group. The text also includes the "Strategemata" of Sextus Julius Frontinus (30-104 A.D.), Roman magistrate and governor of Britain from 74-78; "De Instruendis," a work on tactics by Aelianus (2nd century A.D. Greek); the "De Vocabulis rei Militaris" of Julius Modestus, a Roman grammarian in the time of Augustus; and "De Optimo Imperatore," the Latin translation of "Strategikos," a comprehensive guide to being a good general by the Greek Platonic philosopher Onosander (1st century A.D.). Bound together with Herodianus, translated into Latin by Angelus Politianus, a colorful history in eight books covering the period from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 to the beginning of the reign of Gordianus III in 238. BMC IV, 116 and 834; Goff S-344 and H-87.