WEB AUCTION 118 - LIBRI E AUTOGRAFI

ASCANIO BALDASSERONI
Delle Assicurazioni Marittime, Firenze, Stamperia Bonducciana, 1786

folio, 19th century half calf

fine copy

FERDINAND BERTHOUD
Essai Sur L'Horlogerie, Paris, J.G. Merigot Le Jeune, 1786

4° Two volumes. Complete with 38 folding plates depicting the machineries. Very good copy.

VITTORIO ALFIERI (1749-1803)

La virtù sconosciuta. Dialogo di Vittorio Alfieri da Asti. Dalla tipografia di Kehl : co' caratteri di Baskerville, 1786

§ 4° (240 x 160), (59, [1] pp. Sign.: A⁸, B-C⁸ D⁸, last blank in original), contemporary coloured wrappers, labelled handwritten title on spine, light brownstains on the lower blank margin of six leaves, a fascinating, large-margined and crisp copy, almost uncut. The utmost rare first edition, actually printed in 1789, but formally dated 1786, the year of composition, during a journey in Alsace. A bibliographical gem; the printing types were bought by P.A.C De Beaumarchais and then brought to Kehl (Renania, Germany) where he also printed all other Alfieri’s works.

The work is an imaginary dialogue with Francesco Gori, Alfieri’s dearest friend early passed away, In it, two life choices are compared: that of the poet who takes charge of a public mission of
private relationships. The confrontation gives Alfieri the opportunity to return to the fundamental themes of his thought: the freedom of the individual in the face of the tyrant, the ignorance of the vast majority of men, the disillusionment of glory.

FRANCESCO MARIA PIERI
La situazione trasciminia degli antichi Falisci e della loro Metropoli Falerio
In Montefiascone nella stamperia del collegio e seminario, 1788

In-4 24.4x18 cm
With a topographical map folded several times. Nice contemporary hardback binding. Titles on the spine.
Genuine marginal copy, in excellent condition.
Original edition of this work dealing with the history of Montefiascone.

Giovanni Ludovico Bianconi (1717-1781)

Descrizione dei circhi particolarmente di quello di Caracalla e dei giuochi in essi celebrati opera postuma del consigliere Gio. Lodovico Bianconi ordinata e pubblicata con note dall’avvocato Carlo Fea e corredata da tavole e dalla versione francese In Roma, nella stamperia Pagliarini, 1789.

§ Folio; XXI, [1], CXXX, [2] pag., signature: A-D1-2,E1-3, a-z1-2, aa-kk1-2; large engraved vignette on title page, 2 large engraved head-pieces, 2 large engraved tail-pieces, 20 engraved plates (some folding). Parallel text Italian / French. Contemporary vellum. Some browning in places. Good copy.

First edition, published postumously. Giovanni Ludovico Bianconi (1717-1781) acquired some fame as a physician and was appointed to act in this function for the Elector of Saxony. Less known are his activities in the field of archeology. He conceived the ambitious project to describe all the monuments existing along the Appian road, but he died before he could achieve its aim, leaving only the part concerning the circuses, that was published some years later by the Roman lawyer and amateur archaeologist Carlo Fea. The plates, by Delena, Bossi, Uggeri, Feoli, Barbazza, Legnano and Carattoni were engraved by Angelo Uggeri (1754-1837), a Roman architect. The book is a complete study not only of the architectural features of the Roman circuses, but also of the games there held, such as chariot races, naval fights gladiator duels etc. Bianconi discusses the Etruscan origin of the circus games and the religious ceremonies held in the circuses. “Sonovi oltre a molte vignette allusive al testo venti gran tavole intagliate in rame. Opera accreditata e piena di dottrina” (Cicognara).
Ref. Cicognara 3619; Kissner 579; Brunet I, 848; Olschki, Choix, n. 16463; unknown to Kat. Berl. and Fowler.

GERMANO AZZOGUIDI
La Spezieria Domestica, Venezia, Stamperia Graziosi, 1790



Complete but missing first blank page. Spine defected. Good copy.

LORENZO DE’ MEDICI (1449-1492), ANGELO POLIZIANO (1454-1494)
Canzone a ballo composte dal magnifico Lorenzo de Medici et da M. Agnolo Poiliziano, & altri autori, insieme con la Nencia da Barberino, e la Beca da Dicomano composte dal medesinmo Lorenzo. Nuovamente ricorrette (colophon; In Firenze, no printer, 1568), but B. Gamba da Bassano, early XIX century or, more probably, late XVIIIth century


§ Large 8vo (230 x 160); 40, [5] pp, signature: A-E1-8, F1-2. Large-size woodcut vignette on title page, faithfully reproduced from the 1568 edition, showing Lorenzo de' Medici in the street in front of his own palace in Via Larga; behind him some young girls are singing in chorus. One of the girls hands Lorenzo an object, perhaps a tambourine with rattles or a begging bowl, the other a "majo", or May tree, according to an ancient tradition linked to the Calendimaggio festivities. Some pp. misnumbered. Later dark green boards. Spine a little worn., but a fine, uncut copy.

First published in Florence in 1562 and afterwards in 1568. Counterfait of the second edition, published by the bibliographer Bartolomeo Gamba da Bassano. In his Serie di testi in lingua italiana (1828) Gamba tells how about twenty years earlier he had the whim to republish the already very rare 1568 edition and how he produced about 100 copies, identical to the original even in the woodcut and the printing errors. To make his edition recognizable however, Gamba replaced the first woodcut initial (a P), representing in the original two fighting people, one thrown to the ground by the other, with a small landscape. Ref. Gamba, n. 893, p. 225; Sander 4458 and plate 620.

MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO (c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC), BERARDO GALIANI (1724-1774)


L’Architettura di Vitruvio Pollione tradotta e commentata dal marchese Berardo Galiani accademico ercolanense, e architettto di merito dell’Accademia di S. Luca. Edizione Seconda Ricorrettta dagli errori occorsi nella prima, e coredata degli stessi rami disegnati, e fatti incidere dal medesimo Traduttore In Napoli presso i fratelli Terres, 1790

§ Folio; Engraved frontispiece, Title page, XX, 272 pag., XXV full page plates and [25] leaves of explanation of each plate. Signature a-e1-2, A-Z1-4, Aa-Ii1-4, Kk-Nn1-2; frontispiece, title page, plates and unnumbered leaves without signature. Large- size engraved vignette on title page, some woodcut illustrations, several beautiful large tail-pieces. Contemporary boards. Some browning in places but a very good copy.

Second edition, published in the same year in Naples and Siena with different frontispieces; the first edition was published in Naples in 1758. Berardo Galiani graduated in civil and canonical law, but he soon developed a strong interest for architecture and archeology, in which fields he worked ever since. His most famous work is the translation of Vitruvio works, based on two Latin codices obtained thanks to Giovanni Gaetano Bottari. Galiani also draw all the illustrations and added an exaustive commentary. “... pregevole edizione... si distingue non soltanto per gli ampi commentari, che riassumono e sviluppano tutta la ricerca filologica precedente, ma anche per le 25 tavole, tutte disegnate dal G. stesso, a corredo di un testo che era giunto completamente privo dell'apparato iconografico originario” (... valuable edition ... it stands out not only for the extensive commentaries, which summarize and develop all the previous philological research, but also for the 25 tables, all drawn by G. himself, accompanying a text that had arrived completely devoid of the original iconographic apparatus) (Carrafiello).
Ref: Tommaso Carrafiello, Berardo Galiani, in DBI, ad vocem.

ANON
Istoria Del Testamento Vecchio E Nuovo, Venezia, Silvestro Gatti, 1793

Partially disbound. Contemporary hard vellum. Water stains on the corner of the pages. Nice copy.

OTTAVIO BERTOTTI SCAMOZZI (1719-1790)

Le fabbriche e I disegni di Andrea Palladio. Tomi primo- quarto. In Vicenza, per Giovanni Rossi, 1796

§ Four in-4° volumes, contemporary half calf, labelled gilt titles on spine (VIII, 128 , frontispiece and author’s portrait ; IV, 76 ;IV, 60 ; IV, 80 pp.) 210 engraved copperplates, mostly folding a fine ad well preserved copy on crisp paper.
In 1776 Bertotti Scamozzi published the first volume of Le fabbriche e i disegni di Andrea Palladio raccolti e illustrati. The idea of producing a luxurious edition of Palladio's works for an international, especially English, market began in 1770, when Pietro Edwards first discussed it with Bertotti Scamozzi, the scholar Antonio Locatelli and probably also the collector and patron John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. The aim of the project was to clarify Palladio's ideas for his admirers and imitators, to solve problems of attribution and reconstruction of incomplete or destroyed works, and to resolve the question of the difference between Palladio's completed buildings and those shown in the plates of his treatise I quattro libri..Ref: Cicognara 599: «Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi fece cosa nobile e grandiosa nel produrre queste grandi opere palladiane, e nell'illustrarle».

CORNELIO TACITO
Opera
Parmae, ex regio typographeo 1797

Two volumes In-4 23x15.5 cm
Contemporary light paperback with printed titles on gussets on the backs. The copy (in barbe) is internally in an excellent condition, with white paper and printed on particularly strong paper.

BERNARD PIERRE JOSEPH
Oeuvres de P.J. Bernard
Paris, P. Didot l’Ainé 1797

In- folio 31.5x24 cm
Binding in full morocco with gold frame and decorations, gilt edges. Small defects
One of 150 copies on strong Angouleme paper.
Superb copy with wide margins