Adolf Occo (1524-1606). Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata a Pompeio Magno ad Heraclium. Milan: Ludovico Monti, 1683 (original edition 1579).
Occo was a renowned physician in Augsburg, serving as dean of the medical college and knighted for his service by emperor Maximilian II in 1573. While studying medicine in Italy, Occo had developed a deep love of ancient coins. Based on his own collection of ancient coins and the larger collection of his friend Mark Fuegger, Occo published a study of coin types that became “one of the landmarks in the evolution of numismatics into a science.”
The original edition, in 1579, was not illustrated but included brief descriptions of known types from late Roman Republican coins to those of the 7th-century Byzantine emperor Heraclius. Occo prepared a second, revised edition in 1601, also without illustrations. The 1683 edition, on display here, was prepared by Francesco Mezzabarba of Milan and was the first edition to include illustrations.