Iacobi Grasseri Basiliensis de antiquitatibus Nemausensibus dissertatio, quâ, præter populi Romani magnificentiam, varij ritus explicantur

First edition of the work on ancient Nîmes by Professor Johann Jacob Grasser, Swiss by birth but a resident of Nîmes at the time of the publication. A scholar who accumulated titles throughout his life, he was poet laureate, historian, theologian, archaeologist, and pastor, as well as Imperial Count Palatine, Knight of the Order of the Golden Spur, and Roman Citizen (Comes sacri Palatii et Consistorii imperialis, Eques Auratus et Civis Romanus). Grasser dedicated this work to his travelling companions, Lucas Liechtenhan and Georg Eckenstein. His peregrinations across early seventeenth-century Europe brought him to witness several landmark events of his age, among them the execution in 1606 of Henry Garnet, one of the conspirators in the notorious Gunpowder Plot.

Pastiche binding in brown percaline, brown shagreen lettering-piece, marbled paper boards with a mottled pattern.

Lettering-piece rubbed and lifting at the lower left corner; headcaps, board edges, and corners very slightly worn.

Two tears to the upper portion of the title-page, marginally affecting the text; browning and a stain in the margin of the same leaf. A fine copy otherwise.

Two stamps to the title-page, one armorial, the other from the library "V. Rhedigersch. Stadtbibliothek Breslau."