STREINNIUS, Richardus
Gentium et familiarum Romanarum stemmata. Richardo Streinnio barone Schuuarzenauio auctore. Ad illustrissimum principem Carolum archiducem Austriæ
[Geneva], excudebat Henricus Stephanus illustris viri Huldrici Fuggeri typographus, 1559£1,250.00
FIRST EDITION. Folio. ff. [58]. * , A-G . G4&5 misbound after D4. Roman letter. Robert Estienne’s large ‘Noli altum sapere’ device on title, fine grotesque initials and headpieces, ‘Mr. de Melinville’ in an early hand on t-p. Light age yellowing, small worm hole within text from start to C5, diminishing in size, minor water-staining to blank upper margin of first few leaves, occasional spotting. A good, clean copy in contemporary limp vellum.
Beautifully printed first edition of this work on Roman genealogy by Reichard Streun von Schwarzenau, Austrian nobleman, politician and historian, composed by the author when he was 21 years old. He was later a close associate of Maximilian II, and became renowned as the owner of a substantial private library, A copy of this work, in contemporary limp vellum, is preserved from Michel de Montaigne’s library. This first edition of this collection of genealogies of Roman patrician families is particularly finely printed, with the use of complex tables to trace the Roman lineages. It was a relatively early work from the press of Henry Estienne, established in Geneva in 1557-8, with the financial backing of Ulrich Fugger, who is mentioned in the imprint. As such it shows the ambitious nature of his work and the technical skill he had already acquired, before inheriting his father’s press at the end of 1559. A very good copy of this rare early Henri Estienne printing.
Adams S1931; Renouard, Estienne, 118:2In stock
