ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
IFPDA Print Fair 2002: Early Art Literature
ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
IFPDA Print Fair 2002: Early Art Literature
1 AN ALBUM OF BAROQUE REPRODUCTIVE PRINTS. 75 seventeenth- and eighteenth-century etchings and engravings, mounted on 71 leaves. Folio. Mid-nineteenth-century English marbled boards, 3/4 morocco gilt (rubbed). The album includes, among other contents, Agostino Carracci’s "Saint Francis Consoled by the Musical Angel" after Vanni (cf. Bohlin 204) and his "Ecce Homo" after Correggio (cf. Bohlin 143); Michel Dorigny’s "The Academy of Art," and Cornelis Cort’s "Rest on the Flight to Egypt" after Barocci. There are several partial or nearly complete reproductive series, including Dietrich-Theodor Crüger after Sarto’s Life of the Baptist (17 plates on 15); Pietro Santi Bartoli after Lanfranco (16 plates, including title); and 22 various plates after Vouet by Dorigny, Tortebat, Daret and others. There are also single prints and series by G.B. Mercati, Cornelis Bloemaert, Fr. Aquila and Pietro Testa. Condition of the prints varies greatly, from worn impressions, trimmed and in worn state, to fine impressions with large margins and in fine state. $5,500.00
2 [ALGAROTTI, FRANCESCO]. Saggio sopra la pittura. 184, (2)pp. Engraved title-page vignette. Contemporary speckled wraps. Uncut. First published Bologna, 1762, and duly translated into English (London, 1764), French (Paris, 1769) and German (Kassel, 1769); a number of editions such as this appeared in Italy before the end of the eighteenth century. Count Francesco Algarotti (Venice, 1712-1764) was internationally esteemed as a connoisseur, particularly in Germany, where he was an agent and advisor to Frederick the Great, Augustus III and Count Brühl. A nice copy.
Livorno (Marco Coltellini), 1763. $600.00
Cf., citing various editions: Borroni I.854; Borroni I.854; Schlosser p. 682; Cicognara 7
3 (ALIBERT SALE) PARIS. FRANÇ. LÉAND. REGNAULT. Catalogue d’une nombreuse collection d’estampes et de dessins de grands maîtres, après le décès de Madame Alibert, et cessation de commerce de J. Guill. Alibert, marchand d’estampes. Vente, 25-30 avril, 2-5 mai 1803. Catalogue by Franç. Léand. Regnault. viii, 167, (1)pp. Lrg. 8vo. Nineteenth-century marbled boards, 1/4 cloth. Unopened. 552 lots of prints are catalogued (including groups of as many as 900 portraits after van Dyck entered as a single lot). A little light waterstaining and foxing but a good copy.
Paris, 1803. $375.00
Lugt 6612
4 ARNALDI, ENEA. Delle basiliche antiche, e specialmente di quella di Vicenza del celebre Andrea Palladio. Discorso. Con l’aggiunta della Descrizione d’una curia d’invenzione dell’autore. viii, cxxxv, (1) pp. Engraved frontis. portrait and 8 folding plates (some in large format). Wood-engraved culs-de-lampe, lettrines. 4to. Contemporary stiff wraps., stitched as issued. Uncut. Second edition, unchanged from the first of 1767, of this noted study, focused particularly on the monuments of Vicenza. Part I consists of a brief discourse, with an etymology of terms, on the origins of ancient and Christian basilicas, followed by a documentary chronology of those in Vicenza, from medieval times to Palladio. In Part II, Arnaldi expounds on his ideas for a modern ‘curia’ (basilica) based on Vitruvian principles.
Vicenza (G.B. Vendramini Mosca), 1769. $1,800.00
Fowler 30; Schlosser p. 568; Berlin 2718; Cicognara 876; Fossati Bellani 2513; Lozzi 6392
5 ARNALDI, ENEA. Idea di un teatro nelle principali sue parti simile a’ teatri antichi, all’uso moderno accomodato. Con due discorsi, l’uno che versa intorno a’ teatri in generale, riguardo solo al coperto della scene esteriore, l’altro intorno al soffito di quella del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, opera dell’insigne Andrea Palladio. (4), xxxii, 82, (2), 58, (2)pp., 6 fine folding engraved plates. Wood-engraved culs-de-lampe, lettrines. 4to. Contemporary heavy wraps. Count Arnaldi’s proposal, based on Palladian prototypes but with noteworthy innovations of his own, was originally prompted by the destruction by fire of Bibiena’s Teatro Filarmonico in 1749. He adds a discussion of Palladio’s original plans for the Teatro Olimpico. A few tears to the plates, well mended; two charming early wash drawings (a soldier, a man’s head) on the last blank leaf; a few plates touched with wash; occasional light foxing; a fine copy.
Vicenza (Antonio Veronese), 1762. $3,000.00
Berlin 2790; cf. Cico 750 (misstating date); cf. Schlosser p. 568 (misstating date); Brunet 9790
6 BORGHINI, RAFFAELLO. Il riposo. 3 vols. vii, 295, 260, 235pp. Fully engraved title-pages; culs-de-lampe. Sm. 4to. Contemporary mottled calf gilt. The third edition of the work, first published in 1584 and annotated by Bottari in the Florence edition of 1730. "The work is divided into four books, the first two are of a theoretical nature, while the third and fourth contain important information on the artistic and cultural world of Florence. In the ‘Riposo’ Borghini relied for information mainly on Vasari, and he may be considered Vasari’s successor. Although much of the treatise lacks originality, it is useful as a source where it deals with artists contemporaneous with the author, such as those who worked in the studiolo of Francesco I, or Francesco Zuccari or sculptors such as Giambologna, who was also probably a friend of Borghini" (Donatella Pegazzano, in The Dictionary of Art). A handsome set.
Siena (Dai Torchi Pazzini Carli), 1787. $1,500.00
Schlosser p. 373; cf. Arntzen/Rainwater H34
7 BOSSE, ABRAHAM. Traité des manières de dessiner les ordres de l’architecture antique en toutes leurs parties.... [Bound with:] Des ordres de colonnes en l’architecture, et plusieurs autres depandances dicelle. [Bound with:] Representations geometrales de plusieurs parties de bastiments faites par les reigles de l’architecture antique.... I: Title, allegorical half-title, dedication and 44ff., all fully engraved. II: Allegorical half-title, (20)ff. (lettered A-V), all fully engraved. III: Title, ii, 10, (1)ff., all fully engraved. Folio. Handsome contemporary full calf gilt at spine in 8 compartments.
A fine collection of these three works (often found together), in early issues, published by Bosse himself. "Another type of publication, and one which did not respond to an aesthetic ideal, appeared in the mid-seventeenth century. It was concerned with the application of universal mathematical principles, surely founded in Cartesianism, to replace tradition and practical craft practices. The principles, first proposed by the mathematician Gerard Desargues in 1636, were taken up from 1640 by Abraham Bosse. His vehement promotion of Desargues’ system, which contradicted traditional guild and academic methods, led to his expulsion from the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and to a ban on his attempt to continue as an educator; it did, however, turn him to the production of his monumental achievement--the beautifully engraved compilation of student exercises and instructions based on his own theories, which were collected under the title of ‘Traité des manières de dessiner les ordres’ (1664, reprinted 1684). Bosse’s work would seem to be unique among architectural publications. Its orientation was not progressive, despite Bosse’s claims of scientific rationalism. But at least two other architect-theoreticians would make responses to this publication, and its implications for later eighteenth- and nineteenth-century developments in architecture go far beyond the scope of this collection.... [The] presentation of the sections of the work suggest that this is more than a student text. The explanatory material is engraved, rather than typeset, and the engraved illustrations are of the highest quality, indicating Bosse’s intention to produce both a treatise and a series of engravings that would probably be produced and sold separately, then later collected into a single volume" (Dora Wiebenson, in Millard).
The collation of this volume agrees exactly with that in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as described in Millard (though the Millard copy lacks the first engraved title-page, present in ours). The Millard catalogue notes that although the second work is dated 1664 on the title, it must be an issue of the early 1670s, as it contains the final plates S, T and V, which were not included in earlier printings. With this in mind, Millard suggests that all three works may possibly be issues of the early 1670s (though in the third work, dated 1659, the impressions of the plates are strong throughout, as they are in ours). Small stains at top corners at the latter part of the volume; a strikingly attractive copy, with large margins, in a handsome, well-preserved binding, with two early ownership inscriptions on the front flyleaf, dated 1754 and 1800.
Paris (Chez l’auteur), 1664, 1664, 1659. $4,000.00
Millard I.34; Fowler 57,60,63; Berlin 2378,2379,3858; Cicognara 444-446 (the latter in 1688 edition)
8 CALDERARI, OTTONE. Disegni e scritti di architettura del Co. Ottone Calderari. Edited by A. Diedo, G. Marangoni, A. Rigato, and A, Vivorio. Elogio by Arnaldo Arnaldi I. Tornieri. 2 vols. (4), 42, (2)pp., 47 engraved plates; 30, (8)pp., 43 engraved plates. Lrg. folio. Publisher’s printed heavy blue wraps. Uncut.
The Vicenzan architect and theorist Ottone Calderari (1730-1803), prolifically active in the Veneto, designed a number of grand palazzi in Vicenza, as well as villas and churches. Heavily influenced by Bertotti Scamozzi’s publication of Palladio in 1776-1783, he built a career based on the Palladian style (Quatremère de Quincy called him "a rejuvenated Palladio"), while assimilating contemporary ideas on functional planning. The two volumes of this work were published not long after his death, in 1808 and 1815, by Paroni in Vicenza; the sheets were then reissued in new wrappers in Venezia in 1817, by Alvisopoli. A third volume in quarto, containing Calderari’s writings on architecture, was planned but never issued (though a collection of his "Scritture inedite in materia di architettura" was collected by Antonio Magini in 1847). Uncut. Some waterstaining and spotting, predominantly in the second volume; a few marginal mends; wrappers somewhat worn, expertly rebacked.
Vicenza/ Venezia (Tipografia Paroni/ Tipografia Alvisopoli), 1808-1815 [1817]. $8,000.00
The Dictionary of Art: "Ottone Calderari" (unsigned).; Cicognara 457; Brunet I.1470; Graesse II.14
9 CELLINI, BENVENUTO. Vita di Benvenuto Cellini orefice e scultore fiorentino, da lui medesimo scritta, nella quale molte curiose particolarità si toccano appartenenti alle arti ed all’istoria del suo tempo, tratta da un’ottimo manoscrito, e dedicata all’eccelenza di Mylord Riccardo Boyle, Conte di Burlington.... xvi, 318pp. Woodcut title page vignette and lettrines; title set in red and black. 4to. Contemporary speckled boards, 1/4 green leather gilt. The famous counterfeit issued by Bartolini in Florence in 1792, of the true first edition, which had been published in Naples by Pietro Martello in 1728. The present issue is distinguishable from the proper first edition in the design of the woodcut mask on the title-page, the number of lines on the first page of the dedication, and the pagination of the index; the paper, too, is different. Cellini’s autobiography is both a major literary text of the Renaissance and one of the crucial art-historical sources of its time; its survival, unpublished, until the early eighteenth century, is in itself remarkable. An attractive copy.
Colonia [vere Firenze] (Pietro Martello [vere Bartolini]), n.d. [1792]. $1,500.00
Cicognara 2232; Brunet I.1725; Graesse II.99; Cf.: Schlosser p. 375f., Gamba 337
10 CHIZZOLA, LUIGI. Le pitture e sculture di Brescia che sono esposte al pubblico. Con un’ appendice di alcune private gallerie. xxiv, 196, pp. Very fine unsigned etched decorations throughout, including allegorical frontispiece, title-page, 4 culs-de-lampe and 2 lettrines, all by the same artist; 1 additional cul-de-lampe by a different hand. Sm. 4to. Contemporary heavy drab paper wraps. Though the work was published by Luigi Chizzola, who also contributed the preface, it is based on the researches of the Brescian sculptor G.B. Carboni (d. 1783), who is often named as its author. The etchings are quite artistic, the culs-de-lampe being rococo compositions reminiscent of Piranesi, incorporating monuments of the city. This copy has occasional intelligent annotations in two contemporary hands. A fine copy, uncut and as issued.
Brescia (Dalle Stampe di Giambatista Bossini), 1760. $1,250.00
Schlosser p. 569; Cicognara 4185; Fossati Bellani 2101; Lichtenthal p. 5
11 (CONTI SALE) PARIS. PALAIS DU TEMPLE. Catalogue d’une riche collection de tableaux des maîtres les plus célèbres des trois écoles; aussi des plus grands maîtres, sous verre & en feuilles, bronzes, marbres, terre cuite du Quesnoi, de Bouchardon, &c., pierres gravées antiques, pendules, montres, & bijoux, & autres objets curieux, qui composent le cabinet de feu Son Altesse Sérenissime Monseigneur le Prince de Conti, prince du sang, & grand prieur de France. Sale, 8 April - 6 June 1777. (2), ii, viii, 417, (3)pp. Fine engraved allegorical half-title by Martini after Moreau. Contemporary boards, 3/4 calf (very finely rebacked and recornered). This copy priced in pen throughout. A little light wear internally; a handsome copy. A highly important sale, "une des ventes les plus importantes du XVIIIe siècle" (Duplessis).
Paris (Muzier père/ Pierre Remy), 1777 . $1,250.00
Lugt 2671; Duplessis 971; Cicognara 4468
12 FALDA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. Li giardini di Roma con le loro piante alzate e vedute in prospettiva. 21 etched and engraved plates, including engraved title and magnificent allegorical dedication leaf, by Gio. Battista Manelli after Arnold van Westerhout, of the garden of the "Roman Hesperides." Oblong folio. Nineteenth-century marbled boards, 3/4 calf (rubbed). Both artistically and historically, a very important publication on nine of the most celebrated gardens of Rome--at the Vatican and Quirinal palaces, and the villas Borghese, Medici, Pamphili, Mattei, Farnese, Ludovisi and Savelli-Peretti--of which only three survive in anything resembling their original state. The extremely accurate and exquisite plates, which alternately present bird’s-eye views and prospects, are by both Falda and Simone Felice. This copy is a rare early issue, with plates before numbers (though the title-page is undated, unlike the first issue, where it is dated 1683). A few marginal stains, a little light foxing; a fine copy, with splendid impressions.
Roma (Gio. Giacomo de’ Rossi), [after 1683]. $7,500.00
Berlin 3492; Olschki 16895; Brunet II.1172; Graesse II.549
13 FERRERIO, PIETRO & FALDA, GIOVANNI-BATTISTA. Palazzi di Roma de più celebri architetti. Disegnati da Pietro Ferrerio pittore et architetto. Libro Primo. [Falda, Giovanni-Battista. Nuovi disegni dell’architetture, e piante de’ Palazzi di Roma de’ più celebri architetti disegnati et intagliati da Gio. Battista Falda.... Libro secondo.] I: 42 etched and engraved plates (including title); II: 61 etched and engraved plates (including title). Oblong folio. Eighteenth-century marbled boards, 1/4 leather (with early rebacking). This set is a rare early issue, with plates before numbers (though after the addition of the mention of "Libro primo" and "Libro secondo" on the title pages, which had not appeared in the first issue). It also contains the correct complement of 103 plates which characterizes the first issue (42 and 61 respectively, in the two parts, including titles); in contrast, later issues contain a total of 105, including two plates added by Domenico de’ Rossi to the second book after 1691.
"This is the first publication to provide systematic, measured and uniformly scaled illustrations of Roman palaces built in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By focusing exclusively on the palace, this book becomes a compendium of exempla, not only illustrating the houses of a very special city, but also establishing the typology of the residential palace.... Ferrerio’s collection of palace façades and plans provided an important model for what became a distinct type of publication.... This trendsetting book on Roman palaces is divided into two parts. Ferrerio was the author of most of the illustrations in the first part, except for one sheet engraved by Giovanni Battista Falda, who was also responsible for forty of the sixty sheets of the second part. While Falda’s work and successful career as an engraver associated with the Roman published Giovanni Giacomo de’ Rossi have been amply documented, much less is known about Ferrerio, who seems to have practiced as an architect and engraver, and whose principal claim to recognition is this album of palace illustrations" (Millard). One plate from the first book is bound out of sequence, in the second. Intermittent light soiling and a little foxing; a fine copy.
Roma (Gio. Jacomo Rossi/ Gio. Giacomo de’ Rossi), [before 1691]. $8,500.00
Millard IV.37; Cicognara 3719; Fowler 120; Berlin 2665; Besterman: Old Art Books 40; Brunet II.1235; Graesse II.573
14 FONTANA, CARLO. Utilissimo trattato dell’acque correnti. Diviso in tre libri, nel quale si notificano le misure, ed esperienze di esse. I giuochi, e scherzi, li quali per mezzo dell’aria, e del fuoco, vengono operati dall’acqua. Con diversi necessarii ammaestramenti intorno al modo di far condotti, fistole, bottini, ed altro, per condurre l’acque ne’ luoghi destinati. Con una esatta notizia di tutto quello, ch’è stato operato intorno alla conduttura dell’Acqua di Bracciano.... (16), 196, (4), (12)pp. 82 etched and engraved illus. designed by Fontana (including 2 double-page plates at the end, signed by Alessandro Specchi). Woodcut culs-de-lampe and lettrines. Folio. Contemporary vellum over boards, titled in pen at the spine.
"Fontana’s extensive publications include a treatise on flowing waters that demonstrates his expert knowledge of hydraulics. According to Helmut Hager (1992), his ‘Utilissimo trattato delle acque correnti’ (the manuscript is now at the Soane Museum in London) indicates better than any of Fontana’s other books the ability to theorize his own professional experiences. As in the ‘Templum Vaticanum,’ Fontana’s publication emerges from an actual design problem. The practical source for this theoretial work was the project for the raising of the water level of Lake Bracciano, necessary since the second fountain in Saint Peter’s square, built by Bernini under Pope Clement X, was to be fed with water brought from this lake (Hager, 1992).... The ‘Acque correnti’ is exquisitely illustrated with engravings of a high artistic and decorative standard, and thus appreciated not only by hydraulic engineers but also by collectors of fine books and wealthy patrons of garden fountains. Despite this aesthetic quality, however, the book is modest in length and compact in format, suitable for practical use" (Millard). Intermittent browning (usual with this book) and light foxing; small split at top of front hinge; generally a very fine copy.
Roma (Gio. Francesco Buagni), 1696. $4,000.00
Millard IV.39; Berlin 3613; Cicognara 915, 3735; Fowler 123; Besterman Old Art Books p. 41; Brunet II.1329; Graesse II.611
15 FOSSATI, GASPARD. Aya Sofia Constantinople as Recently Restored by Order of H.M. The Sultan Abdul Medjid. 3ff. letterpress description of the plates. Lithographic title page and 25 tinted lithographic plates (in two tints) by Louis Haghe after Fossati, mounted on guards. Printed titles in Turkish pasted beneath imprint. 2º (542 x 390 mm.). Contemporary quarter morocco (rubbed, front hinge split, somewhat chipped at head and foot of spine). Occasional light dampstaining (plate 10 somewhat more affected) with partial loss of Turkish inscription below the print; a few plates a bit frayed or creased in the blank margin, where loosening from the hinges.
First edition of the first modern account of Hagia Sophia. The short text in the book (in French, notwithstanding the English title) was written from Fossati’s notes by the Vicomte Adalbert de Beaumont, and the design of the title-page is attributed to Owen Jones. Fossati, an Italian/Swiss architect who worked in Russia before travelling to Constantinople in 1837, entered the service of the Porte in 1845, and in 1847 was charged with the restoration of the Hagia Sophia. Although the separate work he intended to publish on the mosaics never appeared, and they were again covered up once the restoration work had been done, this is the first modern record of both the exterior and the interior of the building. As Abbey notes, the lithographs represent the last work undertaken by Louis Haghe (1806-1885) before he broke off his connection with William Day to concentrate on watercolor painting, and the subject was an appropriate one for a lithographer who had spent nine years of work on Roberts’ "Holy Land." A full-scale monograph on Fossati’s work at Hagia Sophia has been published by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: Teteriatnikov, Natalia B.: Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute (Washington, D.C., 1998).
London (P & D Colnaghi), 1852. $16,000.00
Blackmer 619; Abbey Travel 396; cf. Mango, C.: Materials for the Study of the Mosaics of St. Sophia (1962) for more detailed information on Fossati
16 GUARINI, MARC’ANTONIO. Compendio historico dell’origine, accrescimento, e prerogative delle chiese, e luoghi pij della città, e diocesi di Ferrara. E delle memorie di que’ personaggi di pregio, che in esse son sepelliti: in cui incidentemente si fà menzione di religique, pitture, sculture, ed altri ornamenti al decoro così di esse chiese, come della città appartenenti. (8), 475, (9)pp. Woodcut title-page device, culs-de-lampe, lettrines. Sm. 4to. Contemporary heavy wraps., titled in pen at spine. Schlosser mentions also a supplement published later in the century by Borselli (1670). A little light wear, generally fresh.
Ferrara (Heredi di Vittorio Baldini), 1621. $1,800.00
Schlosser p. 584; Fossati Bellani 2782
17 I paesi del Cavalier Gianfrancesco Barbieri, detto GUERCINO da Cento. Da esso inventati ed espressi in XIV. vedute, ed intagliati in Rame da Giovanni Penna in Parigi. Letterpress title, printed in red and black, with elaborate vignette (Piazzetta?), engraved dedication after Cesare Gennari, and 14 engraved plates by Penna after Guercino. Oblong folio. Modern boards, 3/4 leather, the front cover mounted with an early nineteenth-century red morocco label. The work was printed at the instigation of Benedetto and Cesare Gennari, and dedicated to Francesco II, Duke of Modena. The very fine engravings after Guercino landscape drawings are by Jean Pesne (Rouen 1623 - Paris 1700). Title-page cut down and mounted; central fold in dedication, with unobtrusive mend at foot.
Venezia (Giambattista Albrizzi ), 1754. $4,500.00
18 KIRBY, JOSHUA. Dr. Brook Taylor’s Method of Perspective Made Easy, Both in Theory and Practice. In two books. Being an attempt to make the art of perspective easy and familiar; to adapt it intirely to the arts of design; and to make it an entertaining study to any gentleman who shall chuse so polite an amusement. Illustrated with fifty copperplates; most of which are engrav’d by the author. The second edition. (8), xvi, 78pp., frontispiece, 22 plates; (2), 84, (14)pp., 29 plates. 4to. Contemporary calf, rebacked. Intended to free the study of perspective from the encumbrances of abstruse mathematical theory and "tedious and false explications," the work is dedicated to Hogarth, who contributed the famous frontispiece, a satire on false perspective, and a demonstration of the punning uses to which it could be put. One of Hogarth’s young protégés, Kirby acted as Hogarth’s agent in Ipswich for the sale of his prints, as well publishing his own views of ruins and churches in Suffolk. This second edition, published a year after the first, contains a response to Highmore’s "Critical Examination," in the Appendix. A little light wear, but generally very fine, with the four-page list of subscribers, often lacking. Ex-libris Asheton Curzon, Hagley Farm; and Jules David Prown.
Ipswich (Printed by W. Craighton, for the Author), 1755. $1,800.00
Dobai II.995f., 1020; cf. Brunet III.665, Graesse IV.19; Paulson, Ronald: Hogarth: His Life, Art and Times (New Haven, 1971), II.158f.
19 LA FONTAINE [JEAN DE]. Fables choisies, mise en vers. 4 vols. I: (2), xxx, xviii, 124pp. II: (2), ii, 135, (1)pp. III: (2), iv, 146pp. IV: (2), ii, 188pp. Frontispiece and 275 full-page plates hors texte, after Jean-Baptiste Oudry by Charles-Nicolas Cochin, engraved by Cochin himself, Aliamet, Aubert, Aveline, Baquoy, Beauvarlet, Cars, Choffard, Dupuis, Flipart, Galimard, Le Mire, Moitte, Radigues, Surugue, Tardieu, Teucher, and numerous others. Inserted in the first volume, the portrait of Oudry by Tardieu after Largillière ("found in some copies but not integral" per Gordon N. Ray). Folio. Contemporary full mottled calf, the spines gilt in 8 compartments. A large-paper copy, of which only 100 examples were printed.
We quote from David Becker’s remarks in Regency to Empire on the history of the work: "Oudry began a series of drawings to illustrate the fables of La Fontaine around 1729, more than twenty-five years before their publication in this lavish four-volume set. They were executed during the artist’s leisure hours away from his duties as painter for the royal tapestry works at Beauvais. He made a total of 275 designs for the fables, all of which were engraved for the book. The original drawings are often signed and dated, ranging as late as 1734, with a frontispiece added in 1752.... It was not until 1751 when the complete set of drawings for the project was acquired by the financier Montenault that their publication was undertaken. While securing a team of no fewer than forty-two engravers, Montenault also commissioned Charles-Nicolas Cochin fils to redraw Oudry’s designs, because their technique was deemed too free and loose for the engravers to follow. Cochin drew his more precise designs in the same format as Oudry’s, and the subsequent engravings were also executed in the same size. Several of the finished engravings were exhibited in the 1753 Salon, and the first three volumes of the book were published in 1755 and 1756. A royal grant enabled the final volume to appear in 1759 after the publishers encountered financial difficulties.... The volumes were printed in a very grand format, among the largest of any illustrated book of the time save for certain royal festival books. Three different sizes and types of paper were used for the text and the plates, with two grander formats issued in one hundred copies each. Oudry’s full-page plates were embellished with borders and titles, and the flower painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1806) was commissioned to design decorative tailpieces to fill in the spaces at the end of each fable. His ornamental, rustic designs were engraved on wood by Jean-Michel Papillon (1698-1776) and Nicolas Le Sueur (1691-1764). These decorations often serve to counterbalance the complexity of the engraved plates opposite and are sometimes allegorical in nature. In fact, P.P. Choffard issued a suite of metal-engraved copies of these tailpieces soon after their initial publication (ca. 1760)."
Exceptionally tall, this copy measures 479 x 330 mm. (18 7/8 x 13 inches), substantially larger than those at the Pierpont Morgan Library, Harvard and the National Gallery. The plate for fable CLXXII, "Le singe et le léopard" is in the second state, as is normal in the large-paper edition. Some rubbing and chipping at the extremities and hinges of the bindings, with small losses at head and feet of backstrips; intermittent unobtrusive dustiness and pale foxing; withal an excellent copy, bearing the engraved ex-libris of the Bibliothèque de Champy fils aîné in each volume.
Paris (Desaint & Saillant/ Durand), 1755-1759. $18,000.00
Ray 5; Cohen-de Ricci 548-550, supplement 280; Portalis 483-489; Girardin (1913); Rochambeau 86; Tchemerzine VI.390f.; Brunet III.753; Graesse IV.73; Guilmard p. 150; Cicognara 1125; Bland (1958) p. 209f.; Blumenthal, Joseph: Art of the Printed Book 1455-1955 (New York, 1973), p. 29; Regency to Empire 41; Opperman, Hal: J.B. Oudry (Fort Worth, 1983), p. 146f.
20 (LIECHTENSTEIN COLLECTION) FANTI, VINCENZO. Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che trovarsi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein.... Dove chiara apparisce tanto la spiegazione de’ pensieri di tutti gli autori, quanto il pregio delle storie, e delle favole che ne’ quadri si trovano espresse unitamente al compendio delle vite degl’istessi pittori. (6), 107, (1), 144, (16)pp. 6 fine engraved decorations by Schmutzer after Fanti (1 full-page frontispiece to Part II, and 5 culs-de-lampe). 4to. Very fine German (?) contemporary russet leather, heavily gilt at spine (slightly chafed at head and foot). A.e.g. First edition; a second edition, in French, was issued by the same publisher in 1780. Part II of the work is a compendium of biographical notices of the artists represented in the collection; this is sometimes encountered as a separate work, which is probably a later issue of the original sheets by the publishers, without change in date. Fanti, a portrait painter, succeeded his father Ercole Gaetano Fanti, as keeper of the Liechtenstein gallery. The work is finely printed, with exceedingly fine engraved decorations. A superb copy, with an eighteenth-century engraved armorial ex-libris, and the book plate of Theodor von Karajan.
Vienna (Giovanni Tommaso de Trattnern), 1767. $4,000.00
Schlosser p. 497; Cicognara 3389; cf. Borroni II.567 (citing 1780 edn.)
21 MITELLI, AGOSTINO. All’Ill. Sig. Francesco Maria Zambeccari come a suo singolar.mo Padrone Agostino Mitelli D.D.D. 24 unnumbered etched plates, loose as issued, printed on buff-colored paper (watermarked with a paschal lamb in a circle surmounted by the initial A). 250 x 170 mm. (ca. 9 7/8 x 6 5/8 inches). Sm. 4to. Portfolio (modern gilt boards, 1/4 red morocco). This untitled suite of exuberant, often fantastical, decorative cartouches and other ornaments is one of four sets of prints by Agostino Mitelli (1606-1660), the renowned Bolognese quadratura painter, father of Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. Dated 1636, dedicated to Count Zambeccari,and printed and/or published by Agostino Parisini, it is known in several editions or issues. In one, the title-page was reworked with the "inscription Rousel exc."; in another , with the name of Giovan Batista Paganelli, D.D. and a new dedication to Francesco Bandini. In the present copy, as in the set in the Victoria and Albert, one plate was reworked as a title-page in honor of the marriage of the Duke Paolo Spinola to the Princes Anna Colonna, and bears the date Perugia 1653; the arms of the two families are engraved on the tilted cartouches at top. The title-page also carries the credit, in the architrave below the dedication, "Gio. Jacomo Rossi formis Romae alla Pace, all insegna di Parigi." The watermark is not in Briquet. Intermittent foxing and occasional light soiling; one plate with a clean tear at one corner, with old mend; a few light touches in pencil; nice impressions.
Bologna (Ag.o Parisini For.), 1636. $3,750.00
Berlin 562; Guilmard p. 314 no. 26; Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Drawings from the Kunstbibliothek Berlin (1965), p. 76
22 (PIAZZETTA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA). Nouveau livre du dessein qui contient XXV figures dessinée par le célèbre Jean Baptista Piazzeta [sic]. 24 engraved plates (through-numbered A1-8, B1-8, C1-8, including title-page). Sm. 4to. Contemporary heavy wraps., stitched as issued. This extremely rare book contains three unsigned suites of engravings after academies by Piazzetta, all of male figures, including one of Bacchus. It was undoubtedly published for the use of art students, and may in fact have been engraved by one. While in fine condition, this copy bears a few suggestive small smudges in red and green paint, traces of the studio. The title-page, showing an elegantly dressed woman painting at an easel beneath putti, is a charmingly naive invention. Though stated to contain 25 plates, this copy, with its three signatures of 8 plates each, would appear to be complete with 24. A little light foxing.
N.p., n.d. $2,000.00
Venezia (Comune di): Giambattista Piazzetta, suo tempo, la sua scuola (1983), no. 120 (entry by Filippo Pedrocco).
23 (POGGI SALE) PARIS. P.-F. DEFER. Catalogue raisonné des estampes anciennes, et principalement les oeuvres d’Albert Durer et de Rembrandt, et de quelques dessins qui composaient la collection de feu M. A.-C. de Poggi, peintre de Florence...Conseiller de Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse. Sale, 29 February - 3 March 1836. 50pp. Sm. 4to. Self-wraps., stitched.
Paris, 1836. $300.00
Lugt 14233
24 POZZO, BARTHOLOMEO DAL. Le vite de’ pittori, degli scultori, et architetti veronesi. Raccolte da varj autori stampati, e manuscritti, e da altre particolari memorie. Con la narrativa delle pitture, e sculture, che s’attrovano nelle chiese, case, & altri luoghi publici, e privati di Verona, e suo territorio. [Bound with:] Aggiunta alle Vite de pittori, degli scultori et architetti veronesi. (8), 313, (33)pp.; (2), 42, (2)pp. Woodcut title-page vignette of Verona on the principal work. 4to. Handsome new patterned boards with leather label. An important source work on the artists and art treasures of Verona, highly praised by Schlosser, who calls Dal Pozzo "uno storiografo che è tra i migliori della sua specie," and the separate "Aggiunta" (here bound in) "un copioso elenco dei tesori d’arte di Verona, molto importante per la descrizione degli affreschi di case private in quella città cosí gaia di colore, e specialmente per un esatto somario delle raccolte particolari...." A very fine and attractive copy.
Verona (Giovanni Berno/ Pierantonio Berno), 1718. $2,000.00
Arntzen/Rainwater H116; Chamberlin 2035; Schlosser pp. 532, 550, 566; Cicognara 2351; Lichtenthal p. 61; Graesse V.429
25 Quarenghi, Giulio. Fabbriche e disegni di GIACOMO QUARENGHI, architetto di S.M. l’Imperatore di Russia, Cavaliere di Malta e di S. Walodimiro. Illustrate dal suo figlio. 46pp., 59 etched and engraved plates (3 with aquatint). Engraved frontis. portrait. Large folio. Orig. heavy wraps., with gilt paper label at spine. Uncut. Published not long after the architectect’s death, the work illustrates 19 buildings and projects, nearly all of them in Russia, where Quarenghi (1744-1817) had been employed by Catherine the Great, Paul I and Alexander I. Like his distinguished Italian predecessor Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Quarenghi, born in Bergamo, was instrumental in shaping the neoclassical grandeur of St. Petersburg, and was active also in Moscow. This 1821 first edition (which was enlarged in 1843) draws on the architect’s "Édifices construits à St.-Pétersbourg" (1810), enhanced with twenty-five plates illustrating eight more projects. It includes the palace at Tsarskoe Selò, the theatre in the Hermitage palace, the ‘English’ palace at Peterhof, a shopping arcade on the grounds of the imperial ministry, the hospital in St. Petersburg, and a number of palaces for Russian patricians, as well as unrealized projects outside of Russia, among them a theatre in Bassano, a country house in Sweden, and stables for the King of Bavaria in Munich. A handsome copy, fresh and in entirely original state.
Milano (Paolo Antonio Tosi), 1821. $3,500.00
Freitag 7812; Millard IV.108; Berlin 2776; Brunet IV.917; GraesseV.519
26 RAFFEI, STEFANO. A collection of six publications on antiquities in the collection of Cardinal Albani, at the Villa Albani in Rome. Folio. Early plain blue wrapper. 6 works, bound in 2 vols. Contents as follows:
Ricerche sopra un apolline della villa dell’eminentissimo Signor Cardinale Alessandro Albani. v, (1), 18pp., 3 engraved plates. Engraved title-page vignette, cul-de-lampe and 2 illus. Folio. Contemporary heavy speckled wraps. gilt. A handsome copy. Borroni II.8151.1.
Together with the following 5 works, which are bound together in a separate volume:
1. Il nido. Canzone didascalica sopra un antico nido di marmo esistente nella villa dell’E.mo, e R.mo Principe Sig. Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 28pp., 2 engraved plates (signed Campanella). Borroni II.8166. 2. Dissertazione sopra un singolar combattimento espresso in bassorilievo esistente nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. Continued as: 3. Filotete addolorato. Altro bassorilievo nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 28pp., 2 plates (1 double-page) with 4 illus. Borroni II.8122, cf. II.8151.1. 4. Saggio di osservazioni sopra un bassorilievo della villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 56pp., 2 plates (by Campanella; 1 folding). Engraved title-page vignette, 4 engraved culs-de-lampe. Borroni II.8153. 5. Osservazioni sopra alcuni antichi monumenti esistenti nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 69pp., 6 plates (1 folding) with 8 illus. Cf. Borroni II.8151.1. Folio. Early plain blue wrapper.
The six works are all present in first editions. The group was later republished in a single volume in 1821 by Carlo Mordacchini, in Rome (Borroni II.8151.1; Brunet V.1463). The antiquities described in these publications, which came largely from excavations at Tivoli, were grandly installed in Albani’s villa as though in a museum, accompanied by Mengs’ renowned fresco "Parnassus." An interesting account is given by Luca Leoncini in his article on Albani in the Dictionary of Art. Occasional light wear; the final work somewhat browned in portions.
Roma (Stamperia Salomoniana; Generoso Salomoni), 1778; n.d.; n.d.; 1773; 1779. $2,800.00
27 RICHARDSON [JONATHAN], SEN & JUN. An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, &c. With remarks. (50), 357, (5)pp. 2 wood-engraved figs. in text; wood-engraved culs-de-lampe. Sm. 4to. Contemporary sprinkled calf gilt (unobtrusively renewed at hinges, with original backstrip laid down). A fine copy, crisp and fresh. First edition; a second edition appeared in 1754, expanded with the younger Richardson’s letters to his father from the Continent. "I veri e proprii popoli di viaggiatori di quel tempo, gli Inglesi, i Tedeschi e i Francesi si sono mostrati presto attivi in questo campe anche letterariamente. L’opera piú importante e significativa del genere è dovuta a Jonathan Richardson (1722)" (Schlosser). A very important book in the literature of art history, and in the history of taste and connoisseurship.
London (J. Knapton ), 1722 . $1,600.00
Borroni II.3143; Schlosser p. 539; Dobai I.690.886ff.; Pine-Coffin 722
28 ROSE, JOH. GOTTLIEB. Dissertatio Academica de Mole Adrian hodie Castello S. Angeli, hoc est Die Engels-Burg. Quam incluti sapientum ordinis consensu in Academia Lipsiensi d. I. Septembr. M.DCC.XXIII. Publico eruditorum examini subjiciet praeses M. Joh. Gottlieb Rose, mittweyda-misnicus respondente Adamo Grenzio, Rochlitio-misn, SS. Theol. Cult. 40pp. Wood-engraved lettrine. Modern pastepaper boards. Trimmed a little close, but quite a nice copy. Rare.
Leipzig (Immanuelis Titii), 1723. $450.00
Borroni II.8096
29 SAMMELBAND. Three reproductive suites published by Giovanni Giacomo de’ Rossi, circa 1675-1690, of great fresco cycles in Rome: Pietro da Cortona’s Galleria of the Palazzo Pamphili, by Cesio; Raphael’s decorations in the Vatican logge, by Aquila and Fantetti; and Annibale Carracci’s ceiling of the Camerino of the Farnese Palace, by Aquila. All plates are hinged onto stubs. Fine late eighteenth-century marbled boards, 3/4 red morocco, the spine (somewhat faded and rubbed) gilt with Essex cypher and coronet, and inscribed in compartments "Prince Panfilio’s Gallery," "Raphaels Gallery," and "Imagines Farnesian"; within, a contemporary shelf label, and, at the outset of the second and third suites, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex (1701). Contents as follows:
1. (Pietro da Cortona) Galeria dipinta nel Palazzo del Prencipe Panfilo da Pietro Berettini da Cortona intagliata da Carlo Cesio. 16 etched plates by Cesio after Pietro da Cortona (14 double-page, of which 3 folding), including fully etched title and dedication, all before numbers, of which 15 in first states (including 2 of which there are no recorded impressions) and 1 in an undescribed state between the first and second.
This magnificent suite records one of the greatest Roman baroque fresco cycles, the ceiling of the gallery of the Palazzo Pamphili, painted by Pietro da Cortona between 1651 and 1654. Depicting the story of Aeneas (from whom the Pamphili claimed descent), it was the most important work of Pietro’s late maturity, and the most important undertaking in painting during the pontificate of Innocent X. Carlo Cesio (1626-1686) was one of Pietro’s leading pupils; though his activity as a printmaker was confined almost entirely to reproductive engravings, the series is quite freely and expressively drawn, on a grand scale. Undated, the work can have been issued no later than 1677, when, as noted by Paolo Bellini (in The Illustrated Bartsch), it appears in de’ Rossi’s list of publications. As the suite is dedicated by Cesio to Prince Camillo Pamphili, who died in 1667, the etchings were presumably completed a decade before. Sets of the first state are quite rare, and indeed Bellini was unable to locate examples of two of the states which are present here (4705.066.S1 and 4705.079.S1) and only surmised their existence "by analogy with others in this series." The title plate, furthermore, is present in an unrecorded intermediate state (of 3), including the publisher’s address as inscribed in the second state, but before numbering. Superb impressions throughout, with plate tone. One plate (B.4705.069.S1) with a small loss at right edge of the subject, with old mend (blank infill); otherwise the series is in extremely fresh condition. Tipped onto the verso of the title plate, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Cappell, second Earl of Essex (1701).
Roma (Gio. Iacomo Rossi, alla Pace alinsegna [sic] di Parigi), n.d. (circa 1677?)
Bellini, Paolo (editor). The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 47: Commentary, Part 1 (New York, 1987), 4705.065-.080; Berlin 4095; Brunet I.811f.; Graesse I.348
2. (Raphael) Aquila, Pietro & Fantetti, Cesare. Imagines Veteris ac Novi Testamenti. 55 etched and engraved plates by Aquila and Fantetti after Raphael’s fresco decorations in the Vatican logge, including elaborate dedication portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden and frontispiece portrait of Raphael after Maratta (both folding), a plate of Raphael’s fresco of the prophet Isaiah at S. Agostino, Rome (here bound in at the end), and 52 through-numbered plates.
"Le ‘Imagines Veteris ac Novi Testamenti’ furono pubblicate a Roma nel 1675 da Giangiacomo de Rossi e costituiscono uno dei tributi piú importanti del classicismo seicentesco all’opera di Raffaello.... L’opera deve essere stata ideata nell’ambiente ufficiale del classicismo romano del tardo Seicento, perchè reca nel primo frontispizio la dedica di Giangiacomo de Rossi alla Regina Cristina di Svezia, nota committente e collezionista, e nel secondo inciso da Aquila composto dal ritratto da Raffaello coronato dalla Fama e pianto dalle tre Arti--Pittura, Scultura e Architettura--, il disegno si deve a Carlo Maratta, maestro riconosciuto del classicismo seicentesco.... Lo stile delle incisioni è piuttosto misurato e piano; le tavole incise dallo Aquila mostrano una maggio sicurezza d’intaglio e una linea piú modulata, dovuta forse alla sua pratica come incisore di disegni del Maratta e della sua scuola" (Raphael Invenit). Brilliant impressions, with plate tone, in fresh condition. Tipped onto the verso of the dedication portrait, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Capell, second Earl of Essex (1701).
[Roma] (Jo. Jacobi de Rubeis cura ac sumptibs, delineatae, incisae, ac typis editae), 1675.
Bernini Pezzini, Grazia, et al: Raphael Invenit: Stampe da Raffaello nelle collezioni dell’Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (Roma, 1985), Logge VII; Cicognara 2051
3. (Carracci, Annibale) Imagines Farnesiani cubiculi. Cum ipsarum monocromatibus et ornamentis Romae in aedibus sereniss. ducis parmensis ab Annibale Carracci aeternitati pictae. A Pietro Aquila delineatae incisae. 13 double-page numbered and signed engravings, with 14 subjects, depicting the frescos by Annibale for the ceiling of the Camerino in the Palazzo Farnese. Commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese and executed between 1595 and 1597, the cycle was the immediate predecessor of Annibale’s yet more famous decorations in the Galleria of the palace. The suite is stabbed in the upper margin, probably indicating that it was formerly bound (sideways) in wrappers or an earlier album, perhaps Aquila’s "Galeriae farnesinae icones Romae," a series of 21 plates which, Brunet notes, it usually accompanies. Bright, strong impressions, in fresh condition.
Roma (Io. Iacobus de Rubeis cura, sumptibus, ac typis editae, ad Templ. S. Mariae de Pace cu. Priv. S. Pont.), n.d. (circa 1690?)
Berlin 4086 ; Guilmard p. 319 no. 40; Besterman p. 1
$8,500.00
30 SCHÜBLER, JOHANN JACOB. "Weitere Eröffnung zur Gründlichen Säulen Ordnung von neu inventirten Garten Portalen mit Façonnirten Gatter oder Spreng-Wercken." Suite of 6 through-numbered engraved plates, laid into 3 sheets, in pairs. Two plates are signed Montalegere and Renz. Sm. folio. Unbound.
[Nürnberg] (Ioh. Christ. Weigel), n.d. $450.00
Berlin 3872.1; Jessen p. 237
31 SILVESTRE, ISRAEL. Untitled suite of monuments and views of Rome, Venice, Siena and elsewhere (Faucheux 1.5). 12 through-numbered etched plates on buff-colored watermarked paper. Image size, to platemarks: ca. 115 x 195 mm. (4 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches). Sheet size: 210 x 286 mm. (8 1/4 x 11 inches). First state (of two). The subjects of the plates are: St. Peter’s, Castel Sant’Angelo, the Arch of Portugal, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, "Palais de la Vigne du Cardinal Pie, proche le Colisée," Piazza Navona, the Rialto in Venice ("inventé par Michel Ange"), the approach to Venice from the lagoon, SS. Trinità in Gaeta, S. Maria di Loreto, S. Maria degli Angioli in Porziuncola, and S. Domenico in Siena. "Très jolie suite sans titre.... Il y a une grande ressemblance entre cette suite et la suite du numéro précédent ["Vues de Rome et de Venise," Faucheux I.4]; on les a quelquefois mélées, et on les trouve dans le commerce, complétées l’une par l’autre" (Faucheux). Some of the suite has been mounted with small stubs at left, where once hinged into a binding, and the whole series expertly washed.
Paris (Chez Pierre Mariette, rue S. Jacques à l’Esperance), n.d. $2,000.00
32 Zanotti, Giampietro. Le pitture di PELLEGRINO TIBALDI e di NICCOLO ABATI esistensi nell’Instituto di Bologna. (4), 45, (1)pp., allegorical frontispiece by Bartolommeo Crivellari, dedication portrait of Pope Benedict XIIII and portrait of Pellegrino Tibaldi (both by Wagner), 41 plates by Crivellari and Giovanni Battista Brustolon (4). 13 culs-de-lampe and ornaments, engraved by Crivellari and Brustolon (3). Engraved lettrines (1 signed Brustolon). Folio. Nineteenth-century marbled boards, 1/4 cloth. Tibaldi’s allegorical fresco decorations in the Palazzo Poggi in Bologna (now the Instituto delle Scienze at the University of Bologna) were executed circa 1555 at the behest of Cardinal Giovanni Poggi. Niccolò dell’Abbate’s frieze decorations are slightly earlier, circa 1550. Both cycles are among the artists’ greatest works. Occasional light foxing and wear.
Venezia, 1756. $4,000.00
Freitag 24; Berlin 4080; Cicognara 3464; Brunet V.855; Graesse VII.156
33 TORIJA, JUAN DE. Breve tratado de todo genero de bobedas asi regulares como yrregulares execucion de obrarlas y medirlas con singularidad y modo moderno observando los preceptos canteriles de los maestros de architectura. Por Juan de Torixa maestro architecto yaparexador de las obras reales. Fully engraved dec. title, signed Marcus de Orozco, with putti supporting cartouche of text within scrolls and architectural frame; (8), (78)ff. (misnumbered). 27 engraved plates (measured diagrams) in text. Woodcut lettrines, culs-de-lampe. Tall 4to. Modern mottled calf with raised bands, gilt at spine.
A double treatise, each part of ten chapters, on proportion in vaulting, by this ‘Arquitecto Mayor’ of Madrid. The work concludes with a long note on the "Autores en mis estudios he seguido y reconcido sus grandes aciertos," among them Vitruvius, Alberti, Palladio, Philibert Delorme, Serlio, Rubens, Domenico Fontana and Scamozzi. The engraver of the strikingly handsome title-page, Orozco, was a prolific designer of devotional prints.
We quote at length from the article on Torija by Javier Rivera in The Dictionary of Art: "In 1652-3 [Torija] was the principal architectural assistant for the royal works in Madrid, where he worked on the Alcázar de los Austrias and on the reconstruction of the Palacio del Buen Retiro.... In 1662 he reconstructed the main chapel of Atocha in Madrid, following the design of Sebastián de Herrera Barnuevo. He also participated in the reports on the construction of the sacristy of the Seville Cathedral. His greatest prestige came from his authorship of two books, ‘Tratado breve sobre las ordenanzas de la villa de Madrid y polizia della’ and ‘Breve tratado de todo genero de bobedas...’ (both Madrid, 1661). The first deals with municipal practices previously promulgated and defends the professional capabilities and competence of masters of the works, masons and bricklayers; it was extremely influential, reprinted several times, and used by the royal architect Teodoro Ardemans as the basis of his book on the same theme (Madrid, 1719). The second book, a treatise on vaulting, was polemical, as both San Nicolás (1639) and Ceán Bermudez...stated that its real author had been Torija’s father-in-law, the Madrid architect Pedro de la Peña (d. 1650), who in turn had plagiarized it from a manuscript version by Andrés de Vandelvira; Torija’s study, however, uses different and simpler mathematical calculations, and its practical nature places it much more in the sphere of bricklaying than in that of masonry or stereotomy, offering a broad range of solutions for building and shuttering of all types of vaults. The same book announced the publication of another text, the ‘Libro de trazas de cortes de cantería,’ which was not published because of Torija’s premature death." Expertly restored, with skillful renewal of right edge and portions of the foot of the title-page, and a small portion of the foot of the first leaf (dedication), including one and a half words supplied in expert pen facsimile. An exceptionally handsome copy of this very rare book.
Madrid (Pablo de Val), 1661. $8,500.00
Berlin 2764; Bonet Correa 647; Palau XXIII.293; Zamora y Lucas 67; Ramón Gutiérrez, "Bibliografia Hispanoamericana de Arquitectura" p. 74; El Libri de Arte en España p. 56
34 VASARI, GIORGIO. Ragionamenti.... sopra le invenzioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel palazzo di loro altezze serenissime, con illustriss. ed eccellentiss. signore D. Francesco Medici allora principe di Firenze. Insieme con la invenzione della pittura da lui cominciata nella cupola. Seconda edizione. x, 174pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait and title-page vignette; wood-engraved culs-de-lampe, lettrines. 4to. Early pastepaper wraps. The first edition was published in Florence in 1588. As is noted by both Cicognara and Schlosser, this is in fact a third issue of the work, a reprint of the original having appeared in Florence in 1619 under the title "Trattato della pittura." "The ‘Ragionamenti,’ his explanation of the paintings in the Palazzo Vecchio, was published posthumously by his nephew, Giorgio Vasari il giovane, in 1588 from a non-autograph manuscript. This text was known in Vasari’s lifetime, however, and is mentioned several times in the ‘Vite.’ It is the first of a series of similar descriptions of complex palazzo decorations published by artists or their advisors in the last quarter of the 16th century" (Julian Kliemann, in The Dictionary of Art). A little light wear.
Arezzo (Michele Bellotti), 1762. $1,200.00
Schlosser p. 345; Cicognara 227; cf. Gamba 1729
35 VIGNOLA, GIACOMO BAROZZI DA. Regola de’ cinque ordini d’architettura. (4)pp. (letterpress title and preliminary leaf); 79, (1)pp., entirely engraved, with text facing 48 full-page plates. Engraved half-title with the standard tabernacle portrait bust of the author. Sm. 8vo. Contemporary plain boards. An undated pocket edition, presumably of the early 18th century. Ownership inscription at base of title-page, dated 1737. One leaf with loss at bottom corner, not affecting text or plate.
Bologna (Longhi), n.d.. $375.00
36 VITRUVIUS. De architectura libri decem. Ad Augustum Cæsarem, accuratiss. conscripti: & nunc primum in Germania qua potuit diligentia excusi, atq; hinc inde schematibus non iniucundis exornati. A diecimus etiam propter agrumenti conformitatem, Sexti Iulii Frontini De aquæductibus urbis Romæ, libellum. Item ex libro Nicolai Cusani card. De staticis experimentis, fragmentum. Cum indice ciouisussunim & dispositione longe meliori, quàm antea. (52), 262, (50)pp. 129 woodcut illus. Sm. 4to. Contemporary limp vellum. "This is the first edition of Vitruvius printed in Germany, with the plates based on those of the Como 1521 edition. The text is printed in italics with chapter headings and capitals in roman type" (Fowler). The volume contains, in addition, reports by Nicolas of Cusa of botanical experiments. Portions somewhat browned; early Jesuit library stamp on title; early annotation in Greek on the rear flyleaf; a pleasant copy.
Argentorati [Strassburg] (In Officina Knoblochiana per Georgium Machæropioeum), 1543. $5,000.00
Borroni II.2.7; Berlin 1806; Fowler 401; Cicognara 707; Riccardi I.613; Poleni p. 43; Graesse VI.37; Adams V-906; Ritter 2424
37 VITTORIA, VINCENTE. Osservazioni sopra il libro della Felsina Pittrice per difesa di Raffaello da Urbino, dei Caracci, e della loro scuola. Pubblicate e divise in sette lettere. [By: Vincenzo Vittoria.] 114, (2)pp. Engraved emblematic frontis.; engraved armorial vignette on title. Sm. 4to. Old flexible boards. A little dusty, but uncut and with large margins. A Roman reply to Malvasia by the Spanish-born painter and ecclesiastic Vincente Vittoria (1650-1712), published with the encouragement of Carlo Maratti.
Roma (Stamp. di Gaet. Zenobj), 1703. $1,500.00
Schlosser p. 579; Cicognara 2404
38 WEIROTTER, FRANZ EDMUND, et al. A Sammelband of five separate suites of etchings: two by Weirotter, one by Charles-Nicholas Cochin (Cochin fils), one unsigned, and one further (incomplete) signed P.P., after F.A. Simonini, Antonio Tempesta, Aureliano Milani, and P.F.Calza. Oblong 4to. Very fine contemporary German half calf, handsomely gilt at spine; exceptional marbled endpapers. From the libraries of Jean Furstenberg (with his ex-libris) and Otto Schäfer. The gifted and short-lived paysagiste Franz Edmund Weirotter (1730-1771) was born in Innsbruck and studied with J.G. Wille in Paris; he travelled after to Italy, returning with a great many sketches, and was appointed professor at the Vienna Academy in 1767. His work is unjustly neglected, as Bénézit, among others, has remarked ("Ce charmante artiste, très injustement délaissé, possède une forme très personnelle et fort intéressant").
These suites precede the collected edition of Weirotter which was published in 1775 by Basan, and the impressions are often much superior, particularly the two very striking mezzotint compositions in the second suite. The emulation of Rembrandt in both suites is unmistakable, and extremely interesting in its own right.
Contents as follows:
1. Weirotter, Franz Edmund. Suite de paysages. Dédié à Monsieur Wille, Graveur du Roi, de l’Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture.... 12 through-numbered original etchings, the first signed "Dessinés d’après nature et gravés par Fr. E. Weirotter. Plate size: 95 x 182 mm. to 120 x 200 mm. (4 5/8 x 7 7/8 inches).
2 through-numbered original etchings, the first signed "Dessinés d’après nature et gravés par Fr. E. Weirotter. Plate size: 95 x 182 mm. to 120 x 200 mm. (4 5/8 x 7 7/8 inches).
2. Weirotter, Franz Edmund. XII. vues de la Normandie. Dédiéea [sic] à Monsieur Brillon Duperon, Ecuyer. 12 through-numbered original etchings (two with mezzotint), the first signed "Dessiné d’après nature et gravé par F.E. Weirotter," and the rest "F.E. Weirotter fecit." Plate size (varying slightly from oblong to squarer format): 152 x 157 mm. to 155x 210 mm. (5 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches).
3. Cochin [Charles-Nicholas, Cochin fils]. Livre de paysages, gravé d’apres Mr. Cochin. 1758. 8 through-numbered plates with 29 original etchings after Cochin, including the title and 28 etchings arranged four to the page thereafter, each image individually signed "Cochin in." Plate size of title etching: 150 x 194 mm. (5 7/8 x 7 5/8 inches); image size of each of the etchings grouped on the following pages (within comprehensive platemark): 57 x 80 mm. (2 1/4 x 3 1/8 inches).
Paris (Chés la Ve. de F. Chéreau, rue St. Jacques aux 2 Piliers d’Or), 1758
4. Unsigned. A suite of 10 through-numbered etchings of Roman ruins, printed in pairs, on five plates (bound out of sequence). Each plate has been trimmed close to the platemarks at the end of the pair, and then mounted in the album. Image size ranges from 82 x 63 mm. to 109 x 95 mm.(4 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches). This very interesting suite opens with a memento mori allegory with putto, skeleton holding an hourglass, and a wall clock; following this are images of ruinous triumphal arches and monuments. It is very sensitively drawn. In more than one respect the series is quite reminiscent of Hubert Robert’s "Les soirées de Rome" and the little book by Louis Subleyras, "Nella veduta in Roma di madame le Comte e dei signori Watelet e Copette," both of which commemorate a visit by Weirotter, Watelet and others in their circle to the Accademia di San Luca in 1764. It may well be the work of someone in the Watelet entourage.
5. Untitled suite of battle pieces, military subjects and genre compositions by "P.P.," after Antonio Tempesta (4), Francesco Simonini (13), Aureliano Milani, and Francesco Calza (4). 22 plates of a through-numbered sequence up to 29, inconsistently designated but apparently integral, each trimmed to small margins and mounted. Plate size: ca. 120 x 170 mm. (4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches). The etcher is presumably Bolognese, like all of the foregoing except Tempesta. The Simonini genre compositions are exceptional.
Bologna (Luigi Guidotti), n.d. $6,500.00
39 ZOBI, ANTONIO. Notizie storiche sull’origine e progressi dei lavori di commesso in pietre dure che si eseguiscono nell’I. e R. Stabilimento di Firenze. Seconda edizione, con aggiunte e correzioni dell’autore. 352pp. (mispaginated). 2 lithographic plates hors texte, superbly finished by hand in colors and gold (1 varnished). 4to. Publisher’s printed blue boards (somewhat worn and chipped). The quality of the finished plates is exceptionally brilliant. A little waterstained at top.
Firenze, 1853. $1,000.00
Fossati Bellani 3044; Cf. Bigazzi 3756 ; Graesse VIII.498
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