Antiquitatum latinarum graecarumque enarrationes atque emendationes. Praecipue ad veteris anni rationem attinentes. Epistoles LXVIII comprensae et tabulis plurimis ornatae.
Large 4to. (20), 616, (12) pp. With woodcut printer's device to title-page, 36 folding tables, and 1 folding engraved plate. Contemporary vellum with giltstamped red spine label.
$444.00
First edition of these essays on classical subjects, couched as epistles. The scholar and botanist Giulio Pontedera (1688-1747) "studied Cartesian philosophy, medicine, and natural history at Padua, but was converted by Morgagni and Poleni to return to observational philosophy and so dedicated himself to the study of botany, which he had loved even as a child" (cf. Jöcher/A.). The engraved plate shows arbusta: elms with vines trained to creep up their trunks.
Old handwritten ownership to title-page. Spine label chipped; internally a good, sound copy. All editions are rare; not seen in the last 30 years' trade.
Jöcher/Adelung VI, 620, 4.