MAZZOCCHI, JACOPO or GIACOMO. Epigrammata antiquae urbis. 21 woodcut illustrations, including large depiction of the Pantheon on B2v; more than 100 woodcut borders in text. [10], 180, [7] (of [8]) leaves, with 2a1 bound after 2a7; lacks 2a8 (last leaf, with end of errata and colophon). Folio, 298x212 mm, contemporary limp vellum with later leather lettering piece, soiled and worn, spine darkened and chipped in a few places; occasional browning or foxing, dampstain in upper margin of opening leaves, title soiled, paper crack in blank outer margin of I3, dark stain in blank outer margin of M2, few later marginalia in ink; 1/4 calf folding case. 19th-century armorial bookplate of Charles Bathurst of Lydney Park. (Rome: Jacopo Mazzocchi, April 1521)
first edition of the first printed collection of classical inscriptions, recording examples found in different locations in Rome and reprinting the glossary of Roman legal and administrative abbreviations by Valerius Probus. Harvard/Mortimer-Italian 297 ("Mazzocchi's major work as a printer and antiquarian"); Sander 2554; Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva 249 ("forgeries abound").
