Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 161 18 Sep 2021
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Vico's 1553 Omnium Caesarum
Vico, Aenea. OMNIUM CAESARUM VERISSIMAE IMAGINES EX ANTIQUIS NUMISMATIS DESUMPTAE. ADDITA PER BREVI CUIUSQUE VITAE DESCRIPTIONES AC DILIGENTI EORUM, QUAE REPERIRI POTUERUNT NUMISMATUM, AVERSAE PARTIS DELINEATIONE. LIBRI PRIMI, EDITIO ALTERA. (Venice: Paolo Manuzio), 1553. 4to [22.5 by 16 cm], later [probably early 18th-century] full brown calf, both boards paneled in blind with central embossed floral devices and sprays in corners; spine with five raised bands, richly decorated in gilt; red calf spine label, gilt; board edges decorated in gilt; all page edges speckled red. 84 unnumbered leaves, comprising: a finely engraved architectural title; 13 leaves with text on at least one side; 16 index leaves printed on both sides [collated A–D]; 5 blank leaves; 70 engraved plates of coins on 38 leaves, including the plate numbered BBVIII that is present only in some copies (see comments); 11 engraved plates depicting a coin of the Caesars within delightfully historiated borders, with blank versos. Engraved title and the portrait plates of the Caesars cropped tight to fore-edge margins; coin plates amply margined. Binding rubbed at extremities with moderate wear, but sound and still attractive. Very good. The first edition, with the 1553-dated engraved title. Dekesel lists two editions in his 1997 bibliography, both of them stated as being the "Editio Altera," with engraved titles dated 1553 and 1554. This suggests a bibliographical simplicity, however, that is called into question by various copies of this title that we have handled over the years. Dekesel's collation for the 1553 issue calls for a total of 58 leaves; for the 1554 issue, he calls for 76. This has 84 leaves, including five blanks. It includes the 16 leaves of indexes that is listed only in connection with the 1554 title. The complex publication history is examined in substantially more detail by Dekesel in his 1991 Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae Numismatica Selecta (pages 54–61), where he theorizes that there may exist four separate issues of the 1553 printing. The presence or absence of the plate numbered BBVIII is one clue to the emission sequence, but we suspect the puzzle is yet to be solved. The engraved title is a magnificent example of 16th-century book engraving: the authors of Numismatics in the Age of Grolier (Cunnally, Kagan and Scher) state that "its profusion of Greco-Roman figures, scrolls, vines, garlands, and architectural details, reflects Vico's classical training in Rome and Florence. The vigorous and muscular caryatids (statues of women used as columns) and putti (winged nude boys) reveal the powerful influence of Michelangelo, whom Vico may have met in Rome." Quite scarce. Pinkerton thought highly of Vico, considering his Discourses to be "a treatise of very considerable intelligence for that period." Bassoli, in Monete e Medaglie nel Libro Antico dal XV al XIX Secolo (1985), concurs ("eccellenti e concisi") and goes on to write: "Enea Vico è il primo autore di numismatica che inizi un esame dei pezzi rappresentati senze concedere troppo alle imitazioni contemporanee e che si occupi non soltanto più des «ritratti», ma delle monete come tali, illustrandole inoltre coi loro rovesci." Further commentary on this most important early numismatic author may be found in Edith Elmburg-Ruppelt's "Der systematische Ausbau der Numismatik im Werk Enea Vicos (1523–1567)," in Wissenschaftgeschichte der Numismatik, 1995. Brückmann 148. Dekesel V17. Lipsius 422.
Vico, Aenea. OMNIUM CAESARUM VERISSIMAE IMAGINES EX ANTIQUIS NUMISMATIS DESUMPTAE. ADDITA PER BREVI CUIUSQUE VITAE DESCRIPTIONES AC DILIGENTI EORUM, QUAE REPERIRI POTUERUNT NUMISMATUM, AVERSAE PARTIS DELINEATIONE. LIBRI PRIMI, EDITIO ALTERA. (Venice: Paolo Manuzio), 1553. 4to [22.5 by 16 cm], later [probably early 18th-century] full brown calf, both boards paneled in blind with central embossed floral devices and sprays in corners; spine with five raised bands, richly decorated in gilt; red calf spine label, gilt; board edges decorated in gilt; all page edges speckled red. 84 unnumbered leaves, comprising: a finely engraved architectural title; 13 leaves with text on at least one side; 16 index leaves printed on both sides [collated A–D]; 5 blank leaves; 70 engraved plates of coins on 38 leaves, including the plate numbered BBVIII that is present only in some copies (see comments); 11 engraved plates depicting a coin of the Caesars within delightfully historiated borders, with blank versos. Engraved title and the portrait plates of the Caesars cropped tight to fore-edge margins; coin plates amply margined. Binding rubbed at extremities with moderate wear, but sound and still attractive. Very good. The first edition, with the 1553-dated engraved title. Dekesel lists two editions in his 1997 bibliography, both of them stated as being the "Editio Altera," with engraved titles dated 1553 and 1554. This suggests a bibliographical simplicity, however, that is called into question by various copies of this title that we have handled over the years. Dekesel's collation for the 1553 issue calls for a total of 58 leaves; for the 1554 issue, he calls for 76. This has 84 leaves, including five blanks. It includes the 16 leaves of indexes that is listed only in connection with the 1554 title. The complex publication history is examined in substantially more detail by Dekesel in his 1991 Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae Numismatica Selecta (pages 54–61), where he theorizes that there may exist four separate issues of the 1553 printing. The presence or absence of the plate numbered BBVIII is one clue to the emission sequence, but we suspect the puzzle is yet to be solved. The engraved title is a magnificent example of 16th-century book engraving: the authors of Numismatics in the Age of Grolier (Cunnally, Kagan and Scher) state that "its profusion of Greco-Roman figures, scrolls, vines, garlands, and architectural details, reflects Vico's classical training in Rome and Florence. The vigorous and muscular caryatids (statues of women used as columns) and putti (winged nude boys) reveal the powerful influence of Michelangelo, whom Vico may have met in Rome." Quite scarce. Pinkerton thought highly of Vico, considering his Discourses to be "a treatise of very considerable intelligence for that period." Bassoli, in Monete e Medaglie nel Libro Antico dal XV al XIX Secolo (1985), concurs ("eccellenti e concisi") and goes on to write: "Enea Vico è il primo autore di numismatica che inizi un esame dei pezzi rappresentati senze concedere troppo alle imitazioni contemporanee e che si occupi non soltanto più des «ritratti», ma delle monete come tali, illustrandole inoltre coi loro rovesci." Further commentary on this most important early numismatic author may be found in Edith Elmburg-Ruppelt's "Der systematische Ausbau der Numismatik im Werk Enea Vicos (1523–1567)," in Wissenschaftgeschichte der Numismatik, 1995. Brückmann 148. Dekesel V17. Lipsius 422.