BOOKS IN ITALIAN
BOOKS IN ITALIAN 
Plays Elegantly Produced for Their
First
Print Appearance
Maffei, Francesco Scipione. Teatro del Sig. Marchese Scipione Maffei cioè la tragedia la comedia e il drama non più stampato.... Verona: Gio. Alberto Tumermani, 1730. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). xli, [3], 281, [1] pp.; 1 fold. plt., illus.
Click the images for enlargements. • Gamba 2323; not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, outer edges yapp, spine with hand-inked title; vellum torn and partially lost over lower edge of front cover, with signs of wear and small spots of staining elsewhere. Ex-library, front pastedown with Italian institutional bookplate; yet volume otherwise free of markings. Title-page verso with affixed scrap of paper. Intermittently occurring light dampstaining in upper margins; otherwise clean.
Ancient Roman Commerce — LARGE Paper
Copy Mengotti, Francesco, conte. Del commercio de' romani dalla prima guerra punica a Costantino.... Padova: Nella stamperia del Seminario, 1787. 4to (29.8 cm, 11.5"). [2] ff., CXIII, [1 (blank)] pp. 
first edition includes an engraved vignette with the design for a medal honoring the author.
Single-click
either image, for an enlargement. Scarce: Only two U.S. copies traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN (Harvard, LC).
• Goldsmiths'-Kress 13422.18. Contemporary mottled green paper over cartonneé covers: paper browned, torn, and chipped, especially along spine and edges. Uncut copy. Light soiling on deckle edges, endpapers, and title-page. Some light waterstaining in parts. Pencilled notes on front free endpaper.
Standard & Ground (or Wave?)-BreakingMedina, Pedro de. Arte del navigare. Venetia: Appresso Tomaso Baglioni, 1609. 4to (20.5 cm, 8"). A4 b4 2A8 B–Q8 R10; [7], [1 (blank)], 137, [1 (blank)] ff.; illus. 
Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.
• Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red.
If you don't mind those Chipped labels . . . QUITE
Satisfactory!Metastasio, Pietro. Opere scelte di Pietro Metastasio. Drammi (vols. I, II, & 3); Azioni e feste teatrali; Opere sacre [,] poesie varie e traduzioni. Milan: Societa Tipografica de' Classici Italiani, 1820. 8vo. 5 vols. I: Frontis., LV, [1], 565, [3] pp. II: 642, [2] pp. III: 646, [2] pp. (lacking half-title). IV: 626, [2] pp. V: [4], 617, [11 (index)] pp. 
• Contemporary vellum, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorative bands; bindings lightly soiled, with spine labels chipped and rubbed, spines with shelving numbers in white. All page edges stained gold. Front pastedowns with institutional bookplates, title-pages with shadows of pencilled numerals. Vol. III lacking half-title. Intermittent light foxing, most pages clean. (14112)
Lexicographical Landmark — Seriously Polyglot! Minsheu, John. Minshaei emendatio, vel à mendis expurgatio, seu augmentatio sui ductoris in linguas, the guide into tongues. London: John Haviland, 1627. Folio (37.6 cm, 14.9"). [4] pp., 760 columns (numbering very erratic in last few leaves).
Click the interior images for enlargements. Italian,
Spanish, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ). The work incorporates etymology in all
nine languages; it is typographically quaint, using a variety of fonts including
black-letter.
• STC (rev.) 17947; ESTC S121879; Allibone 1325; Vancil 165. On Minsheu, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Period-style morocco framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with original gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments (signed by Grace Bindings in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in). Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped. Some age-toning and light to moderate spotting; one leaf with tear from outer margin into several lines of text, without loss; last leaf with small hole affecting a few words. (21047)
Travels in SicilyMünter, Friedrich. Viaggio in Sicilia. Palermo: Francesco Abbate, 1823. 8vo (15.5 cm, 6.2"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [4], 244 pp. II: 195, [1] pp.
Rare. While a few institutions report copies of the 1990 facsimile reprint, only one, in the U.S., reports holding this first edition.
• Publisher’s printed paper wrappers; vol. I wrappers dust-soiled, with edges nicked, paper sunned and cracking along spine; vol. II lacking wrappers; both vols. with paper shelving labels on spines. Inside front wrapper of vol. I and title-page of vol. II each with institutional bookplate; vol. I frontis. reverse with rubber-stamp. Title-pages with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1834. First and last page of vol. II darkened.
Imperial
Troops Enter Naples
(Newsletter
— Austrian Charles Crowned King).
Relazione della gloriosa entrata dell'armi cesaree in questo regno, e città
di Napoli. Sotto la condotta dell'Ecc. Signor Giorgio Adamo conte di Martinitz,
plenipotenziario cesareo in Italia, e vice-rè in questo regno per la
maesta' di Carlo III. d'Austria nostro glorioso monarca, e comandante dal signor
generale conte di Daun. Napoli: Presso Dom. Antonio
Parrino, e Michele-Luigi Muzio,1707. 4to (21 cm, 8.25"). [2] ff. 
This
item is rare: No copies were found in OCLC, RLIN, or NUC Pre-1956.
• Removed from a nonce volume; without wrappers. Uncut. A few very light spots of foxing. In excellent shape.
 TO Part
IV . . . |