TOTTI (Pompilo). [Ritratto di Roma antica nel qvale sono figvrati...]. Rome: Andrea Fei, at the expense of Pompilo Totti, 1627. - In-8, soft parchment, smooth spine, remainder of binding. "First edition of one of the most popular guidebooks of the period, devoted to ancient Rome. It was supplemented in 1638 by a guide to modern Romae. The work is distinguished by its abundant illustrations, including a frontispiece, 129 three-quarter-page intaglio engravings, 3 full-page woodcuts and over a hundred woodcut medals. The author, bookseller and engraver Pompilio Totti (1590-c. 1644), sought to portray ancient Rome vividly, combining ancient accounts with previously unpublished illustrations of its ruins, buildings and inhabitants. The first chapters, preceded by an engraved genealogy, focus on Romulus, the founding and planning of the city, then continue with the seven kings of Rome, with digressions on Roman customs such as weddings and military triumphs. The engravings are remarkably fresh, drawing on ancient historians and contemporary works, as well as Totti's own observations. For example, he mentions a tripod discovered in the thermal baths of Paolo Emilio. Sacrificial rites are illustrated by ritual scenes and the instruments used. The colonna miliaria, in the center of Rome, is presented as the starting point for all the Empire's roads, accompanied by lists of distances to cities such as Antioch and Constantinople. There are at least two issues of this book, of which this is the rarest. It is distinguished by the presence, on folio A3 recto, of the epistle "Al medesimo Illustrissimo, & Eccelntissimo Signore Pompilio Totti", in place of the epistle "All'Illustrissimo, & Eccellentissimo Signore Il signor Don Hercole Trivultio". In addition, on the reverse of the A4 sheet is an engraving of a double-sided medal bearing the effigy of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, instead of a text beginning with: "Di Monsignor Reverendiss. Querenghi sopra il Museo del Sig. Cavalier Francesco Gualdo...". Finally, the absence of an engraving on the verso of the last leaf distinguishes it from other prints, which generally feature a representation of a spur. A copy in contemporary binding, from the library of Margaret Georgina Poyntz, Countess Spencer (1737-1814), wife of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, bearing her bookplate and signature. It later belonged to the English archaeologist Ely Talfourd (1838-1923), whose signature appears on the first endpaper. Copy without the title page, which seems never to have been present. Some stains to binding, endpapers soiled. A few light wet spots. Provenance: Margaret Georgina Poyntz, Countess Spencer. - Ely Talfourd. - Label of the London bookshop Ebenezer Palmer (1783-1866)."