Imperatorum romanorum libellus. (Strassburg, Wolfgangus Caephalius,
HUTTICH, (Joannes)
Title within fine historiated border, 184 medallion portraits (some blank in the centre), many by Hans Weiditz, one large initial, large device on verso of final leaf.
Sm. 8vo. [8], 91 (recte 88), [4] ff. Expertly rebound in antique calf. 1525)
Rare first edition of Huttich's important medal book. It contains portraits, mostly taken form antique coins, and brief biographies of the Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar to Ferdinand and is adapted and improved from Fulvio's Illustrium imagines of 1517. The additional portraits of Frederick III, Maximilian I, Philip of Austria, Charles V and Ferdinand II are larger in size than the others. They are almost certainly taken from authentic portraits and show Weiditz as a woodcut artist at his best. Huttich, a native of Mainz and an archaeologist and numismatist was the first person north of the Alps to write on numismatics. Röttinger writes that the fine title-border is also the work of Weiditz. The large device at the end is a variant of a design of Hans Baldung Grien (see: Kat. Karlsruhe XV, S. 388, XLIV).
VD16, H6472. Muller 276, 57. Ritter 1235. Röttinger, Weiditz 167. Not in Adams or BMSTC.
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