Appianus Alexandrinus | Historia Romana, printed in red

Appianus Alexandrinus

Historia Romana. De Bellis Civilibus. Venice, Bernhard Maler (Pictor), Erhard Ratdolt and Peter Loslein, 1477

Two parts in one, Chancery folio (273 x 204 mm). 343 leaves [of 344, without initial blank], a-c¹⁰ d¹², e-x¹⁰; a-i¹⁰ (a1 blank) k-m⁸ o¹⁰, 32 lines, Roman letter, printed marginalia, woodcut border of a2, part I printed in red, woodcut border of a2, part II printed in black, 5- and 9-line woodcut initials, marginalia in a neat early hand; woodcut borders shaved at head, some occasional light spotting. Early seventeenth century full vellum, spine with three raised bands, manuscript title, edges speckled red; some cracking to joints, wear to edges, with some loss.

One of the first books that appeared with woodcut ornaments, a scarce variant printed in red.

This is the first complete edition of Appian's Roman History, written in Greek and translated into Latin by Petrus Candidus Decembrius. Appian of Alexandria was active in the second century CE, a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. This is his principal surviving work was written in Greek in 24 books, before 165 CE. It gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the Roman Empire, and survives in complete books and considerable fragments. 

From a printing perspective this book is interesting for the following reasons: a2r is the translator’s dedication to Pope Nicholas V. The blank 11-line space on c1v and all of c2r in part 1 was left by the printers to indicate a gap in the extant manuscripts. The partnership of the printers Erhard Ratdolt and Bernhard Maler, and the corrector and editor Peter Loslein, lasted from 1476 to 1478. Their books are characterized by the use of a series of very fine woodcut borders and initials along with a strikingly clear roman type. Although traditionally credited to Ratdolt, the design of the woodblocks and possibly of the type is more likely to have been the work of Bernhard Maler who was in charge of the press. When Ratdolt set up his own press in 1480, he apparently brought only one of the border blocks with him, the one that appears in part II of the present work, which he used again for the 1482 Euclid. The red border used in part I appears in this edition only. 

REFERENCE:

BMC V, 244; Essling, 221; Redgrave, Ratdolt p. 28 n° 3; Sander, 482; ISTC ia00928000

PROVENANCE:

Angeli Gabrielis et amicorum (early inscription to final blank)