Descrizione

VASI, GIUSEPPE – Delle Magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna. Rome: (vol.1) Stamperia del Chracas, 1747; (vols. 2-3), Barbiellini, 1752-3; (vols. 7, 8, 9 and 10), Pagliarini, 1756-58-59-61.

Oblong folio (288×295 mm.), 7 volumes (of 10) bound in two, in contemporary half brown calf with corners, spine quite worn (carefully repaired to extremities), boards covered with marbled paper (a bit rubbed), red edges, but mostly a well-preserved copy, printed on laid paper, WITH ALL THE PLATES IN A STUNNING CONTEMPORARY COLORING. (Light browning and marginal foxing here and there.)
Provenance: ownership inscription “Sophie Potocki” at lower corner of the first title-page of each volume; as there are a few women identified with such name, we can’t say if it was the famous Zofia Potocka (born Clavone, 1760-1822), a greek-turkish courtesan slave, then Russian agent, and finally a Polish noblewoman (also portrayed by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun), who had a very adventurous life (as one may guess, or another Sophie Potocki (1802-1961). Each Title-page with engraved vignette, at each ‘book’ there are beautiful historiated engraved letters, all of them in contemporary coloring.

Volume 1: Libro primo che contiene le porte e mura di Roma … Rome, Chracas, 1747, Title, half-title, engr. allegorical plate, engr. dedication to the King of Naples, letter to the reader, pp. lxxii, (2 with index and a plan of Rome), and plates numb. 1-20 (plates 7 and 10 pasted over another). Pl. 3 possibly depicting the author himself, while drawing.
Vol. 2: Libro secondo, che contiene le piazze principali di Roma con obelischi, colonne, ed altri ornamenti … Rome Barbiellini heirs, 1752. Title, dedicatory letter, adv. letter to the reader, preface, pp. lii, (2), plates numb. 21-40, with 5 further engravings in the text (plates 32 pasted over another, a text leaf remargined at bottom, pl. 38 missing, index leaf stained). Some curious scenes: at pl. 30, an itinerant doctor extracting a tooth in a square in front of the crowd, and at pl. 35, some men intent on digging to rediscover Roman antiquities.
Vol. 3: Libro terzo, che contiene le basiliche e chiese antiche di Roma dedicate alla santità …
Rome Barbiellini heirs, 1753. Title (remargined at bottom), dedicatory letter to the pope, with a beautiful large engraved initial depicting Christ, preface (remargined), pp. L with plates numb. 41-60, with 6 further large engravings in the text. Pl. 44 possibly depicting the author himself, while drawing (and at pl. 48, too). Pl. 44 wrongly numb. twice, and 45 omitted (but present, as subject). Missing books IV, V, and VI.
Vol. 7: Libro settimo che contiene i conventi e case dei chierici regolari … Rome, Pagliarini, 1756.
Title, dedicatory letter, preface, pp. lxxxv, pl. numb. 121-140, with altogether 11 further plates and large engravings in the text.
Vol. 8: Libro ottavo che contiene i monasteri e conservatorj di donne … Rome, Pagliarini, 1758.
Title, dedicatory letter, preface, pp. xlviii, pl. numb. 141-160, with some sketches of daily life, i.e. two people carrying large dishes with food on their heads.
Vol. 9: Libro nono che contiene i collegj, spedali, e luoghi pii … Rome, Pagliarini, 1759.
Title, dedicatory letter with a large engr. initial depicting Hercules fighting the Hydra, preface, pp LII, pl. numb. 161-180, again with some sketches here and there of daily life, i.e. a carriage whose wheel suddenly breaks. Pl. 177 wrongly numbered 178, which is instead missing, according the explanatory text leaf which doesn’t mirror the related plate.
Vol. 10: Libro decimo che contiene le ville e giardini più rimarchevoli … Rome, Pagliarini, 1761.
Title, dedicatory letter, preface, a leaf with the list of Vasi’s sponsors printed on recto and verso, pp. xlviii with pl. numb. 181-200 and 4 further large engraved engr. in the text.