Cominciamento e Progresso dell’Arte dell’Intagliare in Rame. Colle vite di molti de piú eccellenti Maestri della stessa Professione. Edizione Seconda Accresciuta di Annotazioni del. Sig. Domenico Maria Manni

Firenze: Per Gio. Batista Stecchi e Anton-Giuseppe Pagani, 1767. 8vo. 220 x 155 mm., [8 ½ x 6 inches].  vii, [i], 247 [1] pp.  Bound in contemporary vellum, red leather title-label on the spine.  Printed on fine paper with wide margins.  Bookplate removed from front pastedown.   With faults a very attractive copy.
Second edition, originally published in 1686.  This edition with edited and enlarged with notes by Domenico Maria Manni (1690-1788), Director of the Biblioteca Strozzi, Member of the Accademia Della Crusca, author, editor, and publisher of numerous works on art history and antiquarian studies.
“Baldinucci (truncated) gave us the first history of an important technique such as copper engraving and etching, which is a true work of art history when this was just emerging as an autonomous discipline” (translated from the Italian from Schlosser).
Baldinucci’s book, the first in its field, begins with a short history of engraving from the earliest attempts in Florence in the 1480’s down to second half of the 17th century.  He describes the development of the techniques and lists those engravers from all over Europe who made contributions to the art form.  He follows this with biographies of Durer, Lucas van Leyden, Marc Antionio Raimondi, Heinrich Aldegrever, Heindrick Goltzius, Jan Saenredam, Jan Sadalaer, Jacques Callot, Cornel Bloemaert, Stefano Della Bella, Rembrandt, Pietro Testa, Robert Nanteuil, and François Spierre.  Within each biography he includes information on other engravers and etchers working in at the same time and offers a list of each artists most famous works.  An index at the end of the work includes hundreds of names of engravers and a page number referring to the text where they are mentioned and their works cited. 
Leopold Cicognara.  Catalogo Ragionato dei Libri d’Arte e d’Antichita, n. 2201.  Julius Schlosser Magnino, Letteratura Artistica, p. 468.  Arntzen & Rainwater.  Guide to the Literature of Art History, H-51.  . (Inventory #: 1325)