Vetus latium profanum tomus quintus...

Patavia: Joseph Comin, 1732. With 16 full-page engraved plates. Engraved title vignette, head- and tailpieces, and printer’s device on verso of last leaf. Recent quarter-calf and marbled boards, speckled edges; a lovely copy, extremely clean. First edition of Book five of a ten-volume series on ancient Latium, the region of Central Italy where Rome was founded. Each volume was published and sold separately. This particular volume is on the history and antiquities of Lanuvium and Ardea, two ancient cities near Rome. Lanuvium, in the Alban Hills near the Appian Way, was celebrated for its elaborate temple of Juno. Ardea, very close to the Mediterranean coast, was the home of Lucius Columella (AD 4-70), the most important agricultural writer of ancient Roman times. The full-page engravings show city views, buildings, ruins, monuments, fountains, and other antiquities.