De Nola Opusculum, Distinctum, Plenum, Clarum, Doctum, Pulcrum, Verum, Graue, Varium & Utile
Girolamo Mocetto Italian
Author Ambrosius Leo Italian
Published by Johannes Rubeus, Vercellensis Italian
Not on view
No title page. Decorative and historiated woodcut initials. Contains four engraved plates by Mocetto, three of which are folded. The first printed in greenish ink; the second trimmed slightly at top; the third not folded but bound in as a full page and trimmed at bottom; the last trimmed at left. The first three plates, which exist in two states, appear to be in the second state.
1st edition of one of the earliest books on archaeology. Nola, one of the oldest cities in Campania, was conquered by the Romans in 313 B.C. and became a Roman colony under Augustus. Leone was a native of Nola and carefully studied the archaeological remains still visible at the time.
