Beschreibung:

BLONDUS, Flavius (1388-1463). Roma instaurata. De Romana locutione . Edited by Gaspar Blondus; with additions by Franciscus Barbarus, Porcellius and Petrus Oddus Montopolitanus. [Rome: Printer of Statius, before 26 July 1471]. Median 2° (324 x 225 mm). Collation: [1 4 2-6 10 7 12 ] (1/1-1/2 blank, 1/3r table, 2/1r preface, 2/1v text, 7/2v-3r additions by Barbarus, Porcellius and Petrus Oddus Montopolitanus, 7/3r Blondi Flavii...ad Leonardum Aretinum... de Romana locutione epistola incipit , 7/11-12 blank). 65 leaves (of 66, without the first blank). 36 lines. Type 1:121R. Three 7-line and two of each 5-, 4- and 3-line initial spaces. Opening initial (2/1r) finely illuminated by a contemporary Italian artist, in blue on burnished gold ground with acanthus leaf infill in blue and yellow and leafy flourishes in red, green and blue, the whole with white tracery, filigree extensions with gold bezants; other initials in blue or red with red or brown penwork. (Single wormhole penetrating text block, first dozen leaves with 2 other small wormholes, occasional light foxing, mainly to blank margins.) Modern vellum, original sewing guards cut from an illuminated manuscript on vellum. Provenance : extensive marginal annotations in a contemporary humanist hand; Giuseppe Martini pencilled collation mark on front pastedown ( Catalogo 1934, no. 61). FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST GUIDE TO ROME. Flavio Biondo da Forlì was the greatest historiographer of the Renaissance before Guiccardini and author of a history of the decline of the Roman empire that foreshadowed Gibbon. His scholarly guide to the monuments of ancient Rome remained the standard guide book for over a century, and it is still an important source for the history of Roman art. According to Schudt, Le Guide de Roma , "Neben dieser Leistung haben die Zeitgenossen kaum Nennenswertes geboten"(pp. 139-40). This rare edition is printed in Roman type that appears in only one other known book, an undated edition of Statius, Thebais et Achilleis ; the press remains unidentified, while the date is based on a purchase note in the Bibliothèque Nationale copy dated 6 August 1471, and a contemporary marginal note in the Cambridge copy stating that Pope Paul II was currently reigning (making the date prior to 26 July). A TALL COPY. H *3242; BMC IV, 143 (IB. 19453); IGI 1759; Oates 1600; Pellechet 2424; Proctor 4004A; GW 4422; Goff B-701 (2 copies only).