VERRIUS FLACCUS, Marcus

M. VERRII FLACCI QUAE EXTANT

      1575. Paperback. VERRIUS FLACCUS, Marcus. M. VERRII FLACCI QUAE EXTANT. Sex. Pompei Festi de Verborum Significatione Libri XX. Et in eos Iosephi Scaligeri Iul. Caesaris Filii Castigationes nunc primum publicatae. [Heidelberg or Geneva] apud Petrum Santandreanum, 1574-83. Octavo. Four volumes bound together, with separate title pages, the first two dated 1575, the third 1574, and the fourth 1583. [24]cccvi[26]; cc[24]; 76[2 blank ff.]; 196[19]62pp. Attractive allegorical title device repeated four times. First edition with Scaliger's notes.(The Venetian editions of 1559 and 1560 were annotated by Antonio Augustin). M. Verrius Flaccus, a freedman and the erudite tutor of Augustus' heirs, compiled an encyclopedic work "On the Meaning of Words." Although it is known today only through Festus' second century abridgement, it is a major source for modern scholarship. The original interior backing, a contemporary vellum manuscript page, is visible in spite of repairs to inner hinges. First of four preliminary blanks torn, and a one-inch marginal tear, not affecting text, to p.[20]. On the whole clean internally, in stiff vellum wrappers showing light wear at extremities. (Not in OCLC. NUC shows 2 cc with the first two volumes, 3 with the first three, and none with all four. British Museum 623.6.10.) R, are.