L. Fenestellae, De Magistratibus, Sacerdotijsq[ue] Romanoru[m] libellus, iamprimum nitori restitutus. Pomponii Laeti itidem de Magistratibus & Sacerdotijs & præterea de diversis legibus Rom. Item Valerii Probi Grammatia de literis antiquis opusculum

8vo. ff. [2] (blank), [80], [1] (blank). Signatures A-K₈ L₄ (L₄ blank). Calf. Tooled front board. Rebacked? Spine elevated on 5 bars. Manuscript note on title page: "Epitome chronicorum etc.” Marginalia. Stamp "AJF." Title with historiated border. Woodcut initials. 

Bound with Heinrich Sellarius, Epitome chronicorum, ac magis insignium Historiarum Mundi velut Index: Ab orbe condito as haec usque tempora. Ex probatissimis quibusque Autoribus. Frankfurt, Franc. Chri. Egenolphus, 1533.

Includes De magistratibus sacerdotiisque Romanorum libellus. Giulio Pomponio Leto’s De magistratibus & sacersdotijs et præterea de diversis legibus Romanorum and Marcus Valerius Probus’s De literis antiquis opusculum. Does not match any description in H. M. Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501-1600, in Cambridge Libraries. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1967 or Universal Short Title Catalogue, but probably c.1530.

The present work, a standard account of Roman jurisprudence, attributed by the first-century antiquary Lucius Fenestella, was widely admired but was in fact the work of a modern humanist, Andrea Domenico Fiocchi. Although his authorship was an open secret at the time, the formal dismissal of the ‘Fenestella’ attribution awaited the critical edition of Gilles Wyts (Antwerp, 1561, Bib#4102771/Fr#229 in this collection). See A. Freeman, “Hoax and Forgery, Whimsy and Fraud: Taxonomic Reflections on the Bibliotheca Fictiva,” in W. Stephens & E. Havens (eds.), Literary forgery in early modern Europe, 1450-1800, Baltimore, 2018, pp. 10-11.

Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.