[JOSEPHUS] -- 'HEGESIPPUS'. De rebus Iudaeorum principibus in obsidione fortiter gestis, deque excidio Hierosolymorum, aliarumque civitatum adiacentium, libri V, divo Ambrosio Mediolanensi episcopo interprete. Cologne: Johannes Soter for G. Hittorp, May 1530. 2° (318 x 203mm). Roman type, title with architectural woodcut border [Merlo 448] by Anton Woensam after Hans Holbein, the younger, first page of text with four-piece woodcut border [Merlo 452] by Woensam, large woodcut historiated initials by Woensam, contemporary Neapolitan(?) binding of blindstamped morocco over pasteboard, covers elaborately tooled in blind, the outer border with a stamp of a palmette with two voluted flowers, the central rectangular panel divided into two squares by ropework borders, enclosing two lozenges filled with knotwork, small and large rosettes at the corners, spine decorated with diagonal lines (lacks ties, small splits to joints). Provenance: Monastery of Monte Cassino (inscriptions) -- Francesco and Angelo Camerti (inscription and stamp at foot of title) -- Hans Fürstenberg (book label). A very fine copy of the first Cologne edition of 'Hegesippus': the 4th-century anonymous Latin translation of Josephus's De Bello Judaico. Adams H-147. (2)