Imperatorum Romanorum Libellus

MEDALLION PORTRAITS OF THE EMPERORS

Historiated and ornamental four-part woodcut border by Hans Weiditz of playful putti cavorting among vine, pouring copious amounts into Bacchus' bowl at the bas-de-page, and into his wife's mouth at right; 264 medallion portraits, white on black (with some blank in centre) of the Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar to Ferdinand I, some by Hans Weiditz, Koepfle's printer's device on title and a larger version on the last leaf verso.

8vo (142 x 95mm). [8], 82[=89], 3ff. Modern blind-tooled calf, spine with repeating gilt ornament and 'Huttich' in second compartment. 

(Strasbourg: Wolfgang Köpfel, 

The second edition of humanist, antiquarian and archaeologist Johannes Huttich's (1490-1544) history of the Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. A native of Mainz, Huttich was the first person north of the Alps to write on numismatics. He was a friend and correspondent of Erasmus and Ulrich von Hutten. This edition is a reprint of the first of 1525, but the characterful title border by Hans Weiditz, depicting a bacchanalia, is new to this edition (see A.F. Johnson, German Renaissance Title-Borders, no. 40).

Emperors and their wives are illustrated in roundels and described beneath, accorded anywhere between two lines and a full page of biography. Of the 263 medallions here, 78 have been left empty; the remaining 185 contain striking woodcut portraits executed in intaglio, i.e. the portraits themselves are white on a black, printed ground. Some of these portraits are copied from those in Andrea Fulvio's Illustriu[m] ymagines (Lyon: A. Blanchard, 1524), in turn copies of those used by Jacopo Mazzocchi, based on coins and medals in his collection, for the first edition of Fulvio's work in 1517 (Mortimer, French I, no.242). Huttich continues the portrait series beyond the emperors of classical time to medieval emperors of the Hohenstaufen and Hapsburg lines. Many of the portraits in the republican and medieval sections are imaginary; only those of the imperial period have a claim to authenticity being based on contemporary coins. The last five portraits, illustrating the Holy Roman Emperors, are based on contemporary paintings or commemorative medals. Most of the illustrations here are by Hans Weiditz; the final, larger five are particularly distinctive as they are based on actual likenesses of the people depicted, down to Charles V's characteristic Habsburg chin. 

The influence of these portraits on the decorative arts in northern Europe is well attested; artists used the book as a pattern book. (cf. E.P. Goldschmidt, The Printed Book of the Renaissance). 

Marginal annotations in an early hand, several adding baptism dates to descriptions of emperors; pencilled numbers in later hand..

Trimmed, occasionally affecting marginal annotations, otherwise very good condition.

VD16 H 6473. Not in Adams, BMSTC copy incomplete. A.F. Johnson, German Renaissance Title-Borders, no. 40. 

Stock Code: 252863