Seven Books on the Vestiary Art (On the Dress of the Ancients)

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Original title: Octavii Ferrarii de re vestiaria libri septem: quatuor postremi nunc primum prodeunt: reliqui emendatiores & auctiores An antiquarian-philological treatise in seven books reconstructing the dress of the ancient Greeks and Romans from literary, juristic, numismatic, and sculptural evidence. Composed in Latin with embedded Greek citations, it draws on Roman jurists (notably Ulpian), patristic authorities, coins, statues, and the philological tradition from Aldo Manuzio the Younger through Joseph Scaliger. The 1654 volume expands an earlier three-book issue of 1642 (on the toga, praetexta, and tunica) with four new books on the lacerna, paenula, military dress, and pallium, reissuing the first three in corrected and augmented form. It argues that statues, coins, and monuments outrank grammarians in settling questions of antique costume, and that a garment is a legible sign of its wearer's status, virtue, and citizenship. The toga is argued to have been round and closed. The work is illustrated with thirty-two engraved plates drawn from Cassiano dal Pozzo's Museo Cartaceo, with the first part dedicated to the Venetian Republic and the second to Christina of Sweden. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
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Document excerpt

FERDINANDI CORTESI Xai Tōν φιλῶν. EX SCIENTIA SPES JULIUS S. HELD 1768