Discorso di M. Sebastiano Erizzo sopra le Medaglie degli Antichi. Con la dichiaratione delle Monete Consulari & delle Medaglie de gli Imperadori Romani. Nel'a qual si contiene una piena & varia cognitione del'Istoria di quei tempi. Di nuovo in questa quarta editione dall'istesto authore revisto, & ampliato.

Venice (In Vinegia), Appresso Gio. Varisco & Paganino Paganini, n.d. (ca. 1584). 8vo. 4to. 2 parts in 1: (XVI),572;282 p., numerous woodcut illustrations. Modern 20th century vellum. 22 cm (Ref: Edit16 CNCE 18279: 'non prima del 1584'; Graesse 2,498; Ebert 6901; Brunet 2,1047) (Details: Modern vellum in antique style. Back with 3 raised bands. Boards panelled. Title within woodcut symmetric architectural borders. The printer's mark is a crowned double-tailed Sirene (Sirena bicaudata), who holds the end of her tails in her hand. (This creature from medieval mythology was chosen in 1971 as logo of Starbucks. The poor creature has been revised several times to simplify it and remove any obvious nudity) Numerous woodcut illustrations in the text of coins and medals) (Condition: Upper half of first 180 pages waterstained; margins of the title thumbed) (Note: The The Italian Renaissance scholar 'Messer' Sebastiano Erizzo was born in 1525 in an illustrious Venetian noble family. He received a thorough humanistic education, and achieved full mastery of Latin, and an excellent knowledge of Greek language and literature. He became a member of the Venetian Council of Ten. The reputation of his remarkable coin collection brought many visitors to Venice. He became an expert in the field, and a master of the science of numismatics, which was still in an embryonic state. In 1559 he published his first edition of 'Discorsi' on the coins and medals of the ancients. Accompanied by numerous engravings this work aims at presenting a history of Roman coinage of the Republican and Imperial period, extending until the age of Probus. The display of religious and military insignia, architecture, ceremonies, gestures, faces, hierarchies, tools, weapons, animals, garments, sacrifices constitute a very effective source of information on Roman antiquity, he argued. He died in Venice 1585. (Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (1993)) Erizzo is also known for his his novel 'Sei Giornate' (Six Days) published in 1567. It consists of 6 'Giornate' of 6 stories each. The narrators are students of the University of Padua, who meet in a delightful garden on 6 successive Wednesdays in the months June and July, 1542. The stories are moralizing in character, and there is an almost total absence of amorous themes) (Collation: Quarto in 8 leaves. a8, A-2N8 (minus leaf 2N7 & 2N8); A-S8 (leaf S6 blank; minus leaves S7 & S8)) (Photographs on request)