Columnae Traiani.

Tan leather binding with red title plate, gilt decoration and title on the spine. Gilt 'Cambridge panel' decoration on the boards. In Latin. Rebacked many years ago.

Chacón, A., Historia utriusque belli Dacici a Traiano Caesare gesti. With 2 coppers on 1 l. and 132 ( 2 multiple folding) copper plates. Rome, J. Mascardi 1616. Please download the enclosed selected photographs - upon application all 132+ photographs can be forwarded to interested parties. Naturally, galleries and museums can benefit from a discounted price as it is preferred that this precious volume remains intact.

1. This is a great book, a magnificent work of art perfected on a series of coppers on Trajan's Column in Rome by the best the world has seen.

2. The First Edition (1576) was crafted by Giulio Pippi (after Raphael)

3. This 1616 book (the second edition) is one of the most remarkable Renaissance series of illustrations. These coppers were made by Francesco Villamena, who followed the models & workings of Raphael and his students Guilio Pippi (Romano) and Giovanni Polydoro. Generally, this work by Francesco Villamena is considered an improvement upon the work of Guilio Pippi (after Raphael) found in the work of the First Edition

4. The text on both editions is written by the Spanish historian Alfonso Chacón (also Ciaccone).

5. The engraving style on both editions was that invented by Marcantonio (original prints of his work can fetch over $10,000 US)

6. As was customary of the day the five best book copies of the day was given to the Papal Library

7. In 1746, following the death of his father, William Constable (1721-1791) inherited the Constable estate. In 1769 William embarked on a Grand Tour to Italy where he acquired many works of art (including this copy of the Columnae Traini, by F Alfonso Ciiacono Hispano, sold out of the Papal library) and curiosities to add to his extensive collections.

8. This volume was then housed in the specially built museum rooms at Burton Constable Hall. Although it is known that a museum existed in 1774, its location remains a mystery. It was referred to as the "White room adjoining Gallery" in the inventory of 1791, when it housed a number of framed drawings. The present-day Museum Rooms were, according to a plan of 1775, two bedrooms separated by a dressing room.

9. On William Constable's death in 1791, some of his works of art passed to his relatives, much went into storage, and some was sold including this volume for an attributed eighteen guineas.

Don Alphonsus Ciacconius (born shortly before 15 December 1530,Baeza - died 14 February 1599, Rome) was a Spanish Dominican scholar in Rome. His name is also spelt as Alfonso Chacón and Ciacono. Chacón is known mainly for two of his works: Historia utriusque belli dacici a Traiano Caesare gesti (Rome, 1576), and Vitae, et res gestae pontificum romanorum et S.R.E. Cardinalium ab initio nascentis ecclesiae usque ad Clementem IX. P.O.M. Alphonsi Ciaconii Ordinis Praedicatorum & aliorum opera descriptae (Rome, 1601). Chacón was an expert on ancient Graeco-Roman and Paleo-Christian epigraphy, the Medieval paleography and manuscripts, besides the history of the papacy. He named the tinctures after their Latin initials. Or (gold) was designated by A (aurum), argent (silver) or white, respectively by a (argentum), azure (blue) with c (caeruleus), gules (red) by r (rubeus), and vert (green) by v (viridis). Though the sign for sable (black) (niger) was not present in his system traditionally it was designated by the black colour itself. The Benedictine historian Arnold Wyon (1554–ca. 1610) attributed to Chacón the interpretations of the pre-1590 prophecies in the Prophecy of the Popes attributed to St. Malachy. The prophecy, including the attribution of the interpretations to Chacón, was first published in 1595 by Wion as part of his book Lignum Vitæ. But this attribution to Chacón was refuted in 1694 by Claude-François Menestrier, who pointed out that the prophecies are never mentioned in the original 1601 edition of Chacón's Lives of the Popes and Cardinals, nor in the later editions of 1630 and 1677 that included much new material by later authors, and that neither were his alleged interpretations of the alleged prophecies mentioned as part of his works when they were very comprehensively listed (including his unpublished works) in both Nicolás Antonio's bibliography of Spanish writers, and Fr Ambroise de Altavera's bibliography of Dominican writers.

Giulio Pippi (c. 1499 – 1 November 1546), known as Giulio Romano was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-century style known as Mannerism. Giulio's drawings have long been treasured by collectors; contemporary prints of them engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi were a significant contribution to the spread of sixteenth-century Italian style throughout Europe.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figure in the rise of the reproductive print. He also systematized a technique of engraving that became dominant in Italy and elsewhere. His collaboration with Raphael greatly helped his career, and he continued to exploit Raphael's works after the painter's death in 1520, playing a large part in spreading High Renaissance styles across Europe. Much of the biographical information we have comes from his life, the only one of a printmaker, in Vasari's Lives of the Artists. He is attributed with around 300 engravings. After years of great success, his career ran into trouble in the mid-1520s; he was imprisoned for a time in Rome over his role in the series of erotic prints I Modi, and then, according to Vasari, lost all his money in the Sack of Rome in 1527, after which none of his work can be securely dated.

Francesco Villamena: primary name: Villamena, Francesco c.1565-1624: Biography: Engraver, designer, drawing teacher, dealer in antiquities, from Assisi. Francesco Villamena, b. Assisi (Baglione) c.1565, d. Rome 7 July 1624 (Thieme-Becker) aged about 60 according to Baglione, who says that he came to Rome during the papacy of Sixtus V (1585-90). Active in Rome. The earliest dated engravings by him that we have found are those illustrating B. Catani's 'Pompa Funerale' of Sixtus, Rome, 1591. From 1604 recorded in Accademia di S. Luca (Thieme-Becker). A 10-year papal privilege covering his entire future output of prints, was granted to him on 8 October 1596 (Leuschner). 1601, 'Gli sfrenati', engr. inscribed with V.'s name as "inventor", does not say that the original was a painting, although at least four paintings of this composition are recorded (see Cat. Salzburg Residenzgalerie, 1970, no. 198). Member of the Compagnia di San Luca in 1604 and 1607. Cassiano dal Pozzo and Vincenzo Giustiniani acted as godparents to his children (Kühn-Huttenhauer, 1979, p.23). In 1619-20 he was described as living in the 'Salzata della Trinita' or alternatively as in 'Piazza della Trinita all'insu'. He was a well-known collector and put together a collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, noted by Baglione and in part inventoried after his death (Camiz). He was regarded very highly as a retoucher of old plates, e.g. the set of plates of the reliefs on Trajan's column, republished in 1616. He engraved plates for others, including Thomassin, Stefanoni, Clodio, Benedetto De Claro, Florimi and Rascicotti. He designed many of his own plates and published them himself. The fact that a series of engravings after Raphael's Logge was published shortly after his death (Mariette, 'Abecedario', ed. Chennevières and Montaiglon, Paris, 1851-60, vi, p. 77; Gori Gandellini, 'Notizie degli Intagliatori', Siena, 1808-16, xv, p. 57) suggests that he was active until the end of his life. A printing press was among his possessions at the time of his death.

Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians (101–102 and 105–106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.

The structure is about 30 metres (98 feet) in height, 35 metres (115 feet) including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 32 tons, with a diameter of 3.7 metres (12.1 feet). The 190-metre (620-foot) frieze winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 steps provides access to a viewing deck at the top. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons, and had to be lifted to a height of about 34 metres (112 feet).Ancient coins indicate preliminary plans to top the column with a statue of a bird, probably an eagle. After construction, a statue of Trajan was put in place; this disappeared in the Middle Ages. On December 4, 1587, the top was crowned with a bronze figure of Saint Peter the Apostle by Pope Sixtus V, which remains to this day.

Trajan's Column was originally flanked by two sections of the Ulpian Library, a Greek chamber and a Latin chamber, which faced each other and had walls lined with niches and wooden bookcases for scrolls.The Latin chamber likely contained Trajan's commentary on the Roman-Dacian Wars, the Dacica, which most scholars agree was intended to be echoed in the spiraling, sculpted narrative design of Trajan's Column.

Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian province of Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Empire.