Folio. Beautiful red full morocco w. richly gilt back. Boards w. gilt ornamental borders, inside which another square gilt border w. a large diamond-shaped border inside, gilt corner-ornamentations. Triple blind-stamped line-borders following the gilt ones (gift-binding). On both boards a centre-ornamentation (weapon?) has been removed (to hide provenance?), revealing beautiful, cont. but vague drawings of angels on both boards, inside the gilt border, surrounding the missing centrepiece. All edges gilt, capitals, hinges and corners professionally restored. Lacking ties. Inside of boards and endpapers w. insect-bites. A cont. owner's name has been removed from top of frontispiece (same provenance as that of the removed weapons?). Some brownspotting and overall wear. Some leaves w. small holes to margins, none affecting illustrations or text. A few of the folded plates w. tears and a few w. repairs. Engr. frontispiece/ t-p., numerous large engr. head- and tail-pieces and initials, engr. text-illustrations, 18 full-page engr. plates and 11 folded engr. plates. (6), 221, (1), (30) pp.
Very scarce first edition, only printed in very few copies, which were probably all given as gift-copies to the Barberini-family and friends, with "Donum auctoris" printed at bottom of title-page. A second enlarged edition appeared in 1647 after the death of Tetius and Pope Urban the VIII, it was printed in much larger numbers and is more common than the first, though still a rarity. "Il a étè réimpr. en 1647, sur plus grand papier; mais on préfère la première édition." (Brunet V: 765-66). This richly illustrated work is renowned for its beauty. It contains the beautiful and famous engravings of the treasures and interior of the Barberini Palace in Rome. It was printed to celebrate the building of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini) and his nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini's then new palace on the Quirinal at Rome. Many of the folded plates depict the famous fresco-ceiling by Pietro da Cortona in the Palazzo Barberini Salone. The illustrations are so excellent that Tetius himself described the work as a second palace serving as a stand-in for the real one and being equivalent to a visit to it. The plate with the portrait of Pope Urban VIII is drawn by Andreas Camass and executed by Jo. Frederic Greuter, other plates are by Cungius, Petrus Berettius da Cortona & Cornelius Bloemaert, and Camillus C. The book seems to be complete, as it collates as thus: Engr. frontispiece (or t-p.), t-p. w. large engr. vignette, one unnumbered leaf w. 2 engr. vignettes (probably misbound and should have been pp. 5-6 (A3) ), p.1 (A1) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 3 (A2) w. engr. vignette (no A3, as this is probably the leaf bound in as the 3rd unnumbered leaf), p.7 (A4) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 9 (B1) w. engr. vignette, p. 10 (verso of B1) w. large vignette/ illustr., full-page engr. portrait of Pope Urban VIII, p. 11 (B2) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 41 (F1) w. engr. end-vignette, p. 42 (verso of F1) w. engr. vignette/ illustr., full-page engr. plate of the Barberini Palace with garden, p. 43 (F2) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p 46 (verso of F3) w. engr. end-vignette, 4 large folded engr. plates of the fresco-ceiling, p. 48 (verso of F4) w. engr. end-vignette, 1 large folded engr. plate (fresco-ceiling), p. 54 (verso of G3) w. engr. end-vignette, 1 large folded engr. plate (fresco-ceiling), p. 58 (verso of H1) w. large engr. illustr., p. 59 (H2) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 67 (I2) w. engr. portrait inside Barberini-border, p. 71 (I3) w. engr. portrait inside Barberini-border, p. 73 (I4) w. engr. portrait inside Barberini-border, p. 75 (K2) w. engr. portrait inside Barberini-border, p. 82 (verso of K4) w. engr. illustr. and engr. vignette, p. 83 (L2) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 96 (verso of L4) w. engr. end-vignette/ -illustration, p. 97 (N1) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 106 (verso of O1) w. engr. illustr., 1 large folded engr. plate, p. 107 (O2) w. engr. vignette and engr. initial, p. 113 (P1) w. large engr. illustr., p. 116 and p. 117 (verso of P2 and P3) consisting of two engr. illustrations of empty frames, (pp. 141-44 w. Greek text), p. 195 (Bb2) w. engr. weapon-end-vignette, p. 196 (verso of Bb2) w. large engr. vignette/ illustr., pp. 197-211 consisting of 8 full-page engr. plates depicting busts, pp. 213-21 consisting of 5 full-page engr. plates depicting statues (one bust) 2 of which are folded, then follows 15 leaves which are unnumbered, the first half containing inscriptions: 1 leaf serving as a sort of title-page to this section, 3 leaves, being 3 engr. plates w. inscriptions, 6 pp w. printed inscriptions inside printed line-borders, 2 pp. w. Greek text w. an engr. end-vignette, finally 6 leaves of index with a beginning- and end-vignette, 1 final leaf with a large engr. vignette. Brunet V:765-66; Graesse 7:105.
DKK 50000.00
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