Italie

Nouveau Voyage D'Italie.

1694 · 166964 — 1694. ITALY. MISSON François-Maximilien. Nouveau Voyage D'Italie Avec un Memoire contenant des avis utiles à ceux qui voudront faire le mesme voyage. Three volumes. 26 248 21; 352 28; 18 413 i.e. 417 21 pp. Illustrated with a total of 65 engraved plates of which 39 are folding plus one folding letterpress plate. Titles printed in red and black with woodcut printer's device a few small woodcut illustrations in-text woodcut tail-pieces. Engraved armorial device at head of dedication to Charles Butler in volume I. Errata leaf at end. Ruled in red throughout. 12mo. 155 x 95 mm. uniformly bound in near-contemporary French dark blue morocco sides with triple fillet border vase and flower tools at corners central gold-blocked arms of Lorenzo Marziani Prince of Furnari in Sicily Guigard II 344 spine in six compartments richly gilt second and third compartments lettered in gold gilt edges. The Hague: Henri van Bulderen 1694-1698. Second Enlarged Edition of the description of a voyage to Italy made by the author in 1687-88 which served for fifty years as an essential European guide book to the Grand Tour. This copy was handsomely bound for a Sicilian noble. Volume III is not called for in the 1694-98 publication; it has been taken from the third edition and uniformly bound with our set. François-Maximilien Misson ca. 1650-1722 a Protestant from Lyon was forced to seek refuge with his family in England upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. His father became a minister within the Huguenot community of London and Misson found employment as tutor to Charles Butler later Earl of Arran. It was with his pupil that Misson undertook the Grand Tour of which he gave an account in this book. The two traveled to Italy via Rotterdam Cologne Munich and Innsbruck crossing the Brenner Pass then to Verona and Venice visiting points of interest in and near Naples making a long visit to Rome and returning via Bologna Milan Genoa Turin Geneva Strasbourg and Brussels. His work in the form of a series of letters describes every locale visited and is "resoundingly modern" in tone containing an orderly account of "first-hand factual observations… augmented by the critical perspective of a protestant travelling through a Catholic country" Oxford DNB. First published in 1691 translated into English in 1695 the work was hugely popular and was frequently reprinted with additions and enlargements. The fine engraved plates show detailed and accurate views of the principal sites from the major Italian and other European cities monuments objects animals and plants of local interest and regional costumes. This special copy is enlarged with the third volume of the following edition containing a "Memoire" for prospective tourists with sections on France Flanders and Vesuvius an alphabetical index of cities; a guide to the principal fairs and markets in various European cities; and lists of most important luxury goods found in various Italian cities with a blank folding plate for the reader's own additions. Small tear to lower blank corner of frontispiece tears to three plates in vol. I occasional minor small stains slight wear at joints and extremities of spines. Still a very fine set in a wonderful near-contemporary French morocco binding. PROVENANCE: Lorenzo Marziani supra-libros; Pastoret 19th-century armorial bookplate; Dr. Desnos 20th-century bookplate; Giannalisa Feltrinelli bookplate and blind-stamps sale Part VII Christie's Paris 11 December 2001 lot 2014. Rossetti 7093 describing 38 plates in vol. I but stating that "the number of plates may vary from copy to copy" and 7094. Borroni Bibliografia dell archeologia classica Florence 1962 3125/1. unknown books