Abbé Jérôme RICHARD
Description historique et critique de l'Italie, ou nouveaux mémoires sur l'état actuel de son gouvernement, des sciences, des arts, du commerce, de la population & de l'histoire naturelle
Chez François Des Ventes • Saillant|A Dijon • & à Paris 1766|10 x 17 cm|6 volumes reliés
First edition, illustrated with two folding maps of Italy.
Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 compartmentalized fleurons. Red morocco title and volume labels. Triple fillet frame on boards. Roulette on edges. Head caps of volumes I and IV partly torn; those of volumes V and VI worn. Tail caps of volumes I and IV worn. Upper joint of volume I partly cracked, of volume III at tail and of volume VI over the last three compartments at tail. Inverted leaves at end of table in volume IV. Despite this, satisfactory set with good general appearance.
The author does not merely provide an account of his personal journey to Italy, but aims to achieve a complete and most accurate description of contemporary Italy, so that his work serves as a modern and useful guide, compared to the numerous travels to Italy that have been written; and Abbé Richard indeed documented himself extensively to produce this study that is political, economic as well as cultural. One finds entirely new elements there, beyond Italian history and classical descriptions of monuments and works of art, such as air quality, food, roads, printing houses, courtesans, collections... Two complete volumes are devoted to Rome. The work proceeds by cities and geographical regions. Tables of contents make it easy to find particular elements of the work. A comprehensive work, considering that each volume contains approximately 400 pages. Volume 3 contains a chronology of painting schools and painters in Italy.
Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 compartmentalized fleurons. Red morocco title and volume labels. Triple fillet frame on boards. Roulette on edges. Head caps of volumes I and IV partly torn; those of volumes V and VI worn. Tail caps of volumes I and IV worn. Upper joint of volume I partly cracked, of volume III at tail and of volume VI over the last three compartments at tail. Inverted leaves at end of table in volume IV. Despite this, satisfactory set with good general appearance.
The author does not merely provide an account of his personal journey to Italy, but aims to achieve a complete and most accurate description of contemporary Italy, so that his work serves as a modern and useful guide, compared to the numerous travels to Italy that have been written; and Abbé Richard indeed documented himself extensively to produce this study that is political, economic as well as cultural. One finds entirely new elements there, beyond Italian history and classical descriptions of monuments and works of art, such as air quality, food, roads, printing houses, courtesans, collections... Two complete volumes are devoted to Rome. The work proceeds by cities and geographical regions. Tables of contents make it easy to find particular elements of the work. A comprehensive work, considering that each volume contains approximately 400 pages. Volume 3 contains a chronology of painting schools and painters in Italy.
€900