Hardcover
1786 · Rome
by ROME. Vasi, Giuseppe (1710-1782); Vasi, Mariano (1744-1822)
Rome: Louis Perego Salvioni, chez l’auteur au Palais Farnese, 1786. FIFTH EDITION, EXPANDED (1st ed., in Italian, 1763). Hardcover. Fine. A very attractive copy in contemporary mottled sheepskin, spine richly tooled in gold (small area of worming at head of spine, occ. small stains in the text.) Fine paste-paper endpapers with floral motifs. The text is illustrated with two folding maps of Rome, 13 added etched plates (and dozens more in the text) of the monuments of Rome and its environs. This is the fifth edition of this illustrated guide to Rome by the master engraver Giuseppe Vasi, who documented and celebrated the Eternal City in masterful etchings. It has been expanded from the preceding French edition of 1773. While the 1773 edition featured the two maps, the 13 added engraved plates were first printed in the Italian edition of 1777.
The guide proved enormously popular with the Grand Tourists and pilgrims. The original Italian edition of the guide was published in 1763 with title “Itinerario istruttivo diviso in otto stazioni o giornate per ritrovare con facilità tuttele antiche e moderne magnificenze di Roma”. There was another Italian edition in 1777. The first French ed. was printed in 1767 and was followed by another in 1773, making this 1786 edition the fifth edition overall.
The book is advertised as available for purchase (for a price of 8 “Pauli” in wrappers) at Vasi’s address in Palazzo Farnese, where, with the assistance of his son, Mariano, he continued to produce and sell his etchings while performing his duties as assistant to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After Vasi’s death in 1782, Mariano, who is credited as editor of this guide, continued to market his father’s works. The final leaves of this guide advertise additional works by the author that were also available for purchase at Palazzo Farnese. The adverts are new to this edition.
The guide is formatted according to an eight-day route structured through stazioni (stopping places) or giornate (days), each one offering a different tour through the city. This work was part of Vasi’s larger editorial project, the “Magnificenze”, (his ten volume magnum opus in folio.)
“A visitor to Rome in the second half of the eighteenth century would have marveled at the city’s countless wonders of art, architecture, engineering, and gardens… Guides to Rome, such as Vasi’s ‘Instructive Itinerary Divided into Eight Days’, helped visitors untangle the complicated historical web of the city’s ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and baroque layers. Moreover, Vasi wrote and illustrated his guide in such a way as to underline the cultural supremacy of modern Rome and, by extension, the papacy during a period of political decline and economic stagnation in what was then the cultural capital of Europe.
“Vasi’s guide tells the story of Rome’s expansion from its mythical foundations to the second half of the eighteenth century. It is exceptional amongst other guidebooks to the Eternal City as it describes and documents monuments and fabric buildings, some of which are now lost, providing unparalleled insight into the day-to-day activities throughout the city. Moreover, it is one of the few to discuss the works of female artists and their contributions to Rome’s artistic patrimony. He includes Lavinia Fontana’s (1552-1614) paintings and the art and architecture of the celebrated Roman Baroque painter-architect Plautilla Bricci (1616-1705)—the first woman to practice architecture whose name and work have survived today."(Cities in Text: Rome, Notre Dame Architecture Library). (Inventory #: 5210)
The guide proved enormously popular with the Grand Tourists and pilgrims. The original Italian edition of the guide was published in 1763 with title “Itinerario istruttivo diviso in otto stazioni o giornate per ritrovare con facilità tuttele antiche e moderne magnificenze di Roma”. There was another Italian edition in 1777. The first French ed. was printed in 1767 and was followed by another in 1773, making this 1786 edition the fifth edition overall.
The book is advertised as available for purchase (for a price of 8 “Pauli” in wrappers) at Vasi’s address in Palazzo Farnese, where, with the assistance of his son, Mariano, he continued to produce and sell his etchings while performing his duties as assistant to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After Vasi’s death in 1782, Mariano, who is credited as editor of this guide, continued to market his father’s works. The final leaves of this guide advertise additional works by the author that were also available for purchase at Palazzo Farnese. The adverts are new to this edition.
The guide is formatted according to an eight-day route structured through stazioni (stopping places) or giornate (days), each one offering a different tour through the city. This work was part of Vasi’s larger editorial project, the “Magnificenze”, (his ten volume magnum opus in folio.)
“A visitor to Rome in the second half of the eighteenth century would have marveled at the city’s countless wonders of art, architecture, engineering, and gardens… Guides to Rome, such as Vasi’s ‘Instructive Itinerary Divided into Eight Days’, helped visitors untangle the complicated historical web of the city’s ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and baroque layers. Moreover, Vasi wrote and illustrated his guide in such a way as to underline the cultural supremacy of modern Rome and, by extension, the papacy during a period of political decline and economic stagnation in what was then the cultural capital of Europe.
“Vasi’s guide tells the story of Rome’s expansion from its mythical foundations to the second half of the eighteenth century. It is exceptional amongst other guidebooks to the Eternal City as it describes and documents monuments and fabric buildings, some of which are now lost, providing unparalleled insight into the day-to-day activities throughout the city. Moreover, it is one of the few to discuss the works of female artists and their contributions to Rome’s artistic patrimony. He includes Lavinia Fontana’s (1552-1614) paintings and the art and architecture of the celebrated Roman Baroque painter-architect Plautilla Bricci (1616-1705)—the first woman to practice architecture whose name and work have survived today."(Cities in Text: Rome, Notre Dame Architecture Library). (Inventory #: 5210)
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