First Edition of this Collection of Fables, Printed on Blue Paper
Favole di Giovanni Gherardo De Rossi.
Rome: Stamperia Pagliarini, 1788.
First edition of this collection of verse fables. Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 3/8 inches; 196 x 135 mm). viii, [2], 180 pp. Printed on light blue paper, one of a few like this which are presumed to have been printed for presentation. With half-title. With engraved vignette title-page printed on thick cream-color paper. Engraved vignette title-page with scene of animals. Title-page is inserted but part of the pagination. Comprised of 70 fables. A second edition was printed in 1790.
Nineteenth-century half vellum over marbled "wood-grain" paper boards. Spine with black morocco label, lettered and ruled in gilt. Label slightly chipped. Pages uncut and mostly unopened. Paper boards a bit rubbed and very slightly peeling at the vellum. Some very minor foxing, mainly to page edges, but generally the blue paper is very clean. Overall a very good copy.
"Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi of Rome (1754-1827) published his Favole at Rome in 1788; they were reprinted in 1790, 1801, 1821. The subjects of these seventy fables were original, and they show ingenious inventiveness. He also wrote lyrics, novelle, art-criticism, and some of the best comedies of the period, most of which, unlike the fables, were derived from other writers." (Italian Fables of the Eighteenth Century Kenneth McKenzie ; Volume XII, June, 1935, number 2).
HBS 68164.
$1,250.
Price: $1,250.00
Item #68164