First and only edition of a collection of texts on land surveying and agricultural law from classical antiquity, known as the Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum, here edited by Willem Goes (1611-1686). The classical authors include Aggenus Urbicus, Frontinus, Hyginus Gromaticus and Siculus Flaccus. The texts survived through a sixth-century manuscript that is now held in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. Willem Goes (Guilelmus Goesius) was a leading 17th century Dutch legal scholar, who played a major role in Dutch history as one of the judges in the trial of Cornelis de Wit. He added to his edition of the Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum an index and a long history of agriculture during the Roman era. Also included is the commentary on the classical agraro-judicial texts by Nicolas Rigault (1614). The information was crucial for deciding any disputes concerning the boundaries of lands, but also provides a theoretical basis for landscape gardening and arboriculture.
The illustrations depict various ways of geometrically laying out boundaries in landscapes and gardens, also illustrated are different types of trees and pruning methods. With a small map of the Amalfi coast (from Sorento to Salerno).
With an old library mark in ink on front paste-down and title-page. With some of the paper browned and a couple pages water-stained in the head margin. Front hinge partly cracked, spine slightly rubbed. Arnold Arboretum I, p. 283; Goldsmiths Lib. 2068; Kress Lib. 1398.