1580 Discours de La Religion des Anciens Romains, and Sur la Castrametation...

Two richly illustrated works on the Romans, in one 1580 printing: 1. Discours de la Religion des Anciens Romains and 2. Discours sur la Castrametation et Discipline Militaire des Anciens Romains..., both authored by Guillaume du Choul.

Price reflects condition, this one would be better used as a working copy due to a moisture mark from the top-edge. The margins are wide and there are no annotations, and despite being an older binding, it is handsome and holding together well.

Both works are well-illustrated. The first work, on Roman religion captures many coins, along with a handful of larger illustrations. The second work, on the Military, has many full-page illustrations.

About du Choul -

Guillaume du Choul (Gulielmus Caulius) (c. 1496 – 1560) was an antiquarian from Lyon, renowned for his collection of medals (ancient coins). His research on ancient Rome, encouraged by Francis I, was partially published during his lifetime, in books that were authoritative until the eighteenth century. Not limiting himself to the references of ancient authors, he innovated by giving the value of historical documents to the lapidary inscriptions and ancient coins, which abundantly illustrate his works.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 11702, found in 16 of the world's best libraries.

French Vernacular Books..., Pettegree, Walsby and Marsh, reference 17153

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 24 x 17 x 3 cm. Signed in four (quarto). Leather binding. Boards with frame made of three single gilt fillets. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with a central gilt flowering medallion, surrounded by vines with sprays of pointille, and one compartment with the title in gilt. All edge gilt, top-edge darkened by dust. Illustrated. Two works in one printing/volume with seperate title pages for each. Marbled pastedowns.

Pages - 339, [57 - indices], 154, [11 - table]

Collation - a-z4, A-Z4, AA-BB4, CC6, Aa-Tt4, Vv6

Condition -

See pictures. Old book smell stronger with this one. Binding with wear at edges and corners, a few small worm holes and the joints starting. Head and tail of spine chipped. Marbled pastedown doesn't extend to flyleaf. Flyleaf with graphite bookseller note. Pages toned throughout with some foxing, with a moisture mark from the top edge that typically extends about 1/3 of the way down the page. Endpapers with several other graphite annotations.

Bottom corner of title page cut away and amateur tissue/paper repair. Traces of a shelf number at top corner of title page. 1" tear at bottom of leaf d1. Chip at bottom of d2. Several page-edge chips to Aa2 and Aa3. Ii3 bottom corner chipped. Oo2 and 3 bottom corner chipped. Vv1 with 1" tear from bottom corner. Vv6 bottom corner chip. More annotations on rear blank endpapers.