Pietro & Achille PARBONI

First edition illustrated with 159 etched figures depicting views of Rome, plus the engraved title, totaling 160. The engravings bear different signatures: Parboni, Franzetti, Olivieri, or bear none at all, and sometimes the dates 1824, 1827 and 1829. Printed on strong laid paper. Copies found in several libraries, notably that of Quebec, contain only 60 plates, but it is known that a collection of Parboni plates was published later in 1830 containing plates from 1824, with 100 figures, another with 50 plates in 1834; our copy could have been grangerized with plates from these editions. Some plates are numbered, but do not appear to have been bound in order. The plates have relatively variable formats (10.5x14.5cm; 10x13.5cm).
Contemporary half hazelnut calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with long ornamental tools. A lack at the head of volume 3. Rubbing to headcaps and joints. Some light foxing in the margins on well-white paper. A good copy.
Bookplate of Steph. Eglée (Ecclesiae Parisiensis canonici), red stamp. An unidentified 20th-century bookplate on the pastedowns.