{"product_id":"the-late-roman-empire-in-splendid-renaissance-colour","title":"The Late Roman Empire in Splendid Renaissance Colour","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eNotitia Dignitatum\u003c\/em\u003e: One Empire, Two Emperors, and More than 100 Magnificently Coloured Woodcuts\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNotitia utraque dignitatum cum Orientis tum Occidentis vltra Arcadii Honoriique caesarum tempora, illustre uetustatis monumentum, imò thesaurus prorsum incomparabilis.\u003c\/em\u003e Basel, Hieronymus Froben and Nikolaus Episcopius, 1552.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the great visual monuments of late antiquity and Renaissance humanism: the first complete illustrated edition of the \u003cem\u003eNotitia dignitatum\u003c\/em\u003e, the extraordinary late Roman handbook of imperial offices, military units, provincial administration, and court ceremonial, magnificently printed in Basel in 1552 and preserved here in two masterfully contemporary coloured copies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith more than 100 often full-page woodcuts depicting imperial insignia, military shields, codicils of office, provinces, fortresses, cities, and court officials, the work stands among the most visually striking political books of the Renaissance. The first copy is especially remarkable for its sumptuous colouring heightened with shimmering transparent glaze, probably egg white, producing an almost enamel-like brilliance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Bibliographic Information\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e*8 a-o6 p4 q-r6 = 108 leaves. Illustrated with printer’s device on first and final pages, 106 often full-page woodcuts, and numerous criblée initials, all in woodcut and masterfully contemporary coloured. Folio (321 × ca. 208 mm). Modern vellum binding over smooth spine with gilt black morocco spine label, yapp edges, and lettered fore-edge, preserved in modern slipcase. A few lines underscored in an early hand; occasional small defects or abrasions within image area. Provenance: early ownership inscription “P. d Merenborch” struck through on title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond copy: 106 often full-page woodcuts and numerous criblée initials, all in woodcut and contemporary coloured. Folio (336 × ca. 224 mm). Modern half leather binding with two spine labels and gilt spine decoration. Occasionally faint colour offsetting. Provenance: splendid painted armorial device in gold, silver, and colours on verso of title belonging to Jean Prévot, mintmaster of Dijon, with motto “Tela praevisa minus nocent”; title additionally inscribed “Guyette Diaconus 1759.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe State Handbook of the Late Roman Empire\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eNotitia dignitatum\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the most important surviving documents for the structure of the late Roman Empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompiled after the permanent division of the Empire in 395, it records the civil and military offices of both the Eastern and Western Empires under Arcadius and Honorius. The work systematically lists court hierarchies, provincial administrations, military commands, bureaucratic offices, insignia of rank, and the shield devices of imperial units.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts historical importance is immense because the text survives from only a single manuscript tradition descending from the now-lost \u003cem\u003eCodex Spirensis\u003c\/em\u003e, once preserved in the cathedral library of Speyer and no longer traceable after the seventeenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Basel edition of 1552 therefore became the principal vehicle through which Renaissance Europe rediscovered the administrative machinery of the Roman Empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHumanism, Empire, and Charles V\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe edition was prepared by the Prague-born humanist Sigismund Gelenius (1497–1554), scholar, translator, and editor for the great Basel printing house of Froben. He dedicated the volume to Andreas Vesalius, personal physician to Emperor Charles V.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe political implications of the publication were unmistakable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEurope itself stood divided between two rival imperial powers: Charles V and Francis I. At the same time the Ottoman threat loomed ever larger following the siege of Vienna in 1529. The \u003cem\u003eNotitia dignitatum\u003c\/em\u003e, with its vision of two emperors governing a unified Roman world, became more than an antiquarian curiosity. It offered a historical and ideological model for imperial coexistence at a moment of profound political instability.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGelenius repeatedly emphasizes the dual structure of empire in his preface, comparing the divided Roman Empire to the larger and smaller limbs of a single body. The dedication to Vesalius, Europe’s greatest anatomist, transformed political theory itself into a form of imperial physiology.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMore than 100 Extraordinary Woodcuts\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe illustrations are among the greatest achievements of sixteenth-century historical printing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost derive ultimately from late antique models transmitted through the Carolingian manuscript tradition of the lost \u003cem\u003eCodex Spirensis\u003c\/em\u003e. Around 1536 the designs were translated into woodcut by Conrad Schnitt, who rendered architecture, armour, insignia, garments, codicils, weapons, vessels, and ceremonial devices in a remarkable late Gothic classicizing style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional illustrations, probably designed by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch after 1547, depict Rome and Constantinople beneath arcades symbolizing the dual imperial structure of East and West. Particularly striking is the differentiated colouring of Constantinople and the eastern territories, subtly alluding to the Ottoman conquest of the city and the fractured state of Christendom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe insignia themselves possess extraordinary visual power. Every official received an imperial codicil upon entering office, and these ceremonial books appear here decorated with symbolic representations of the official’s duties. Thus the \u003cem\u003ecomes largitionum\u003c\/em\u003e appears with vessels and provisions, while the \u003cem\u003eprimicerius notariorum\u003c\/em\u003e bears writing implements and instruments of administration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike medieval heraldry, these emblems derive authority not from lineage, but from function itself. The imagery therefore embodies one of the central ideals of Renaissance humanism: the vision of an ordered imperial bureaucracy governed through competence and service rather than dynastic fragmentation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Beauty of the Colouring\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe extraordinary contemporary colouring heightens the iconic quality of the imagery even further.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMilitary shields, codicils, architectural settings, ceremonial insignia, and allegorical figures are rendered in carefully differentiated tones of blue, green, red, gold, silver, and ochre. In the first copy, transparent highlights produce an almost luminous surface effect rarely encountered in sixteenth-century colour work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is less a simple antiquarian handbook than a visual theatre of imperial administration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst copy: early ownership inscription “P. de Merenborch,” possibly Pieter van Merenborch of Utrecht, whose heraldic device appears in Pieter Saenredam’s famous painting of the Jacobskerk in Utrecht.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond copy: painted armorial device of Jean Prévot, mintmaster of Dijon, with motto “Tela praevisa minus nocent”; later inscription “Guyette Diaconus 1759.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdams N 354; BM STC German 747; Brunet IV, 111; Ebert 14904; Graesse IV, 691; not in Heckethorn; Hieronymus 1984, no. 466; Jähns I, 126ff.; Lonchamp, \u003cem\u003eSuisse\u003c\/em\u003e 1164; Schweiger II\/2, 618; VD16 N 1884.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 51a-b:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_2_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume II\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46842473545916,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Notitia-Dignitatum-10.jpg?v=1779241447","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/the-late-roman-empire-in-splendid-renaissance-colour","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}