Welser, Fragmenta tabulae antiquae, Venice, Aldo II Manuzio, 1591, modern binding using old marbled paper boards

Welser, Marcus. Fragmenta tabulae antiquae, in quis aliquot per Rom. prouincias itinera ex Peutingerorum bibliotheca. Edente, & explicante Marco Velsero Matthaei F. Aug. Vind. Venice: Aldo II Manuzio, 1591

First edition. Welser was an historian from Augsburg and a close friend of Galileo. This work contains two maps taken from the supposedly fourth-century Tabula Peutingeriana, a map of the Roman Empire, and a one-and-a-half-page Aldine Press catalogue with prices at end ("Libri di stampa d’Aldo, che si trovano al presente").

4to (202 x 145 mm). Roman and italic type, 38 lines plus headline. collation: A-H⁴: 32 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title- page, woodcut headpieces and initials, 2 engraved folding maps. (Faintly spotted, strip of toning to first folding map where inserted on stub, short closed repair to second.)

binding: Modern paper covered boards incorporating earlier marbled paper (204 x 151 mm), decoration of a string of esses on tail edge in brown ink. (Inherent wear to paper.)

acquisition: Purchased from Libreria antiquaria Mediolanum, Milan, 2010. references: UCLA 1009; Renouard 246/5; Edit16 27728; USTC 806659