Descrizione di Roma Antica [with] Descrizione di Roma Moderna

Rome: Michel' Angelo, e Pier Vincenzo Rossi all' Insegna della Salamandra, 1708. FIRST EDITION THUS. THE THIRD AND MOST COMPLETE DE ROSSI EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in original sprinkled calf bindings, boards ruled in gold, spine with gilt ornaments and citron morocco spine labels, tooled in gold (minor signs of wear, upper hinge starting at head). Excellent copies internally with a few stray marginal blemishes. Illustrated with 180 engravings in the text, two added engraved frontispieces, and 19 added engraved plates (see paragraph two below.). A beautiful two-volume set, describing and illustrating the ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque monuments and buildings of Rome. This is the most complete version of these guides printed by Michelangelo and Piervicenzo de Rossi, whose guidebooks greatly improved on those that came before them. According to Rossetti (Vol. I, G-1052), "the number of plates may vary from copy to copy". In this set, both volumes have engraved frontispieces and a total of 19 added engraved plates: 7 in the first volume and 12 in the second. The two other sets that I have handled had the same number and distribution of plates. At least one copy is recorded as having 9 plates in the first volume and 13 in the second. Of the various editions of these guides published by de Rossi, this appears to be the edition with the greatest number of added plates. As with all two-volume Roman guidebooks, the individual volumes would have been available separately. Complete sets in contemporary matching bindings are now scarce.

The Roman guide books published by Michelangelo and Piervicenzo de Rossi marked the culmination of a long series of developments in illustrated guides to Rome. Beginning in the late 16th-century with the guidebooks produced by Girolamo Franzini and his heirs, pilgrims and tourists to the once-again-thriving Eternal City could purchase increasingly more accurate guidebooks to the ancient and contemporary marvels of Rome.

The de Rossi published their first guides in 1689, building on the earlier books of Pietro Martire Felini, Giovanni Antonio Franzini, Pietro Rossini, and -in particular- the "Ritratto di Roma moderna" of Pompilio Totti (1638, 1645, 1652) and the "Studio di pittura, scultura, ed architectura" of Filippo Titi (1674).

For their second edition (1697), the de Rossi expanded Totti's guide by 100 pages and re-organized the contents based on Titi's model. It included, for instance, descriptions of a far greater number of palazzi and gardens, and a longer and more detailed description of St. Peter's. The illustrations were also considerably expanded, partly by adding completely new illustrations and also by improving the old, worn-out plates used to print the earlier editions. This edition of 1708 was expanded even further (by 60 pages) to include the buildings of Clement XI and a number of new illustrations. The construction of the port at the Ripetta "receives appropriate recognition."(Schudt, p. 55)

The authors whose works have been consulted, quoted, and extracted for this comprehensive guide include: Bartolomeo Marliani (d. 1560), Onofrio Panvinio (1529-1568), Alessandro Donati (1584-1640); Famiano Nardini (d. 1661); Cesare Baronio (1538-1607); Alfonso Chacón (1540-1599), Antonio Bosio (1575-1629) and Ottavio Panciroli (16th c.). (Inventory #: 5092)