NOTITIA DIGNITATUM].

NOTITIA UTRAQUE cum orientis tum occidentis ultra Arcadii Honoriique Caesarum tempora . Praecedit . Andreae Alciati libellus, De magistratib. civilibusq; ac militaribus officijs . cui succedit descriptio urbis Romae, quae sub titulo Pub. Victoris circumfertur: & altera urbis Constantinopolitanae incerto autore. Sub iungitur Noticijs vetustus liber De Rebus Bellicis . Item . Disputatio Adriani Aug. & Epicteti philosophi. Basel, Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius, 1552. 7 parts in 1. Folio. With printer's device on title and verso last leaf, foliated and historiated woodcut initials, c. 106 woodcut illustrations (91 full-page, 10 half-page, 5 small ones), 1 double-page topographical map of Rome. Old vellum-backed boards.

      (108) ll. Adams N-354; BMC STC German, p. 747; Brunet IV, col. 111; Graesse IV, p. 691; Machiels N-689; Rosenwald 909; Wellcome 4582; NBG XX, cols. 373-374.First edition of this collection of works on the classical world, edited by Sigismund Gelenius (1477-1554). The fifth and largest work, Notitia, is an almanac with a survey of the offices, officials and other aspects of the governmental organization in the eastern and western part of the Roman Empire till the time of the emperors Arcadius (Constantinople; 383-408) and Honorius (Rome; 393-423). It was composed c. 408. The editor Gelenius found this work in old and rare manuscripts. They may all be derived from one manuscript in Speyer, which has since been lost (Graesse). The woodcut illustrations show insignias, official badges, coins, and allegorical depictions of cities and countries. The present volume also contains Beatus Rhenanus's Illyrici provinciarum utrique imperio cum romano tum constantinopolitano seruientis, descriptio (with two nice woodcut views of Rome and Constantinople), and Andrea Alciatus's Iuris consulti, de magistratibus, civilibusque et militaribus officijs. Alciatus is followed by a double-page map of Rome by Johannes Oporinus, dated 1551. De Rebus Bellicis is accompanied by attractive illustrations of chariots, engines of war, and other weapons. The final tract, a dialogue between the Emperor Hadrian and the philosopher Epictetus is opened by a full-page woodcut of both men engaged in a discussion.The present copy is the first edition. It was reprinted several times and each of these editions contains additions and omissions. Some occasional soiling; a good copy.