ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΛΙΚΑΡΝΑΣΣΕΩΣ: ΡΩΜΑΙΚΗΣ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΑ ΔΕΚΑ DIONYSII HALICARNASSEI: ANTIQUITATUM ROMANORUM LIBRI X, LUTETIAE (PARIS) 1546 Editio PRINCEPS and one of the crown jewels of 16th -century printing. Royal FOLIO.Contemporary full leather slightly rubbed, upper joint weak, only Greek text, text clean and bright,very few scattered marginalia by contemporary pen, overall a very good copy. Published by Robert Estienne this edition is often cited as one of the most beautiful books ever produced during the French Renaissance. This was one of the earliest and most magnificent uses of the Grecs du Roi, the Royal Greek typefaces. Commissioned by King Francis I and cut by Claude Garamond, these fonts were based on the elegant calligraphy of the king's librarian, Angelo Vergecio. The 1546 Dionysius is considered the pinnacle of this typographic style. Before this edition, the Roman Antiquities,a 20 -book history of Roman history, was only known through flawed Latin translations. Estienne’s edition provided the scholarly world with the original Greek text of all surviving text and despite being the first edition, Estienne’s text was so carefully prepared from royal manuscripts that it remained the foundation for Dionysian scholarship for over two centuries.