Veteris Graeciae Descriptio

Florence: L. Torrentino, 1551. INTERIM BINDING OF CONTEMPORARY LIMP VELLUM (soiled), contemporary manuscript title on the spine and bottom edge, evidence of four pigskin ties, edges gauffered in blind; spine lining from a medieval vellum manuscript.

            First Edition of the first full translation into any language. Completed in 1547 by Romolo Amaseo (1489-1552), it remained the standard Latin version into the 19th century. Pausanias’ 2nd-century C.E. travelogue of Greece describes local history and legends, customs and superstitions, monuments and ruins, and remains an important source for modern archeologists.
          A REMARKABLE COPY, substantially taller and wider than the regular exemplars printed on median paper. Jean Grolier’s copy in contemporary morocco measures 350 x 250 mm. I have found one large-paper copy in U.S. collections (Hofer-Harvard). In good condition (pale stain to the outer margins, foxing to parts of twelve quires).
¶Mortimer, Italian 364 (Hofer’s large paper 400 x 250 x 47 mm.; Harvard’s ordinary paper copy 350 x 230 x 31 mm.); Moreni, Annali della tipografia…di Lorenzo Torrentino 150-2,XIV (the 1547 edition is a ghost); EDIT16 CNCE 34583.