Scriptores Historiae Augustae

Scriptores Historiae Augustae
Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis & Bernardinus Rizus, 1489
ROMAN HISTORY – Scriptores Historiae Augustae. Venice: [Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis and] Bernardinus Rizus, 1 October 1489.

A collection of Roman historiography, in a contemporary Italian binding. This copy contains part II only, omitting the work of Suetonius. The Venetian editions of the Scriptores have a complex publication history. The first 13 signatures of the complete book, including quires A-C present here, were printed by Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis; the remainder of the work was printed by Bernardinus Rizus, and the two sections may have been issued separately, explaining the large number of extant copies of only one part or the other. HC 14562 (= (HC 15114 = HCR 14560 = C 5670) + HR 14562); BMC V 401; BSB-Ink S-230; Bod-inc S-118; IGI 8848; Goff S-341; ISTC is00341000.

Part II only, chancery folio (306 x 205mm). 104 leaves (of 170, lacking part one). (Some worming, mostly in gutter but occasionally affecting text, heavier at end; light fingersoiling.) Contemporary Italian blind-tooled goatskin, title in ink on bottom edge (some worming and surface losses, lacking clasps and bosses). Provenance: G. D. D. Nardo (19th-century stamp on first leaf).