Dec 04, 2014 - Sale 2369

Sale 2369 - Lot 251A

Unsold
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
TASSO, TORQUATO. La Gerusalemme Liberata. Engraved portrait of the dedicatee, Empress Maria Theresa, and 8 (of 21) plates after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta; 20 pictorial head-pieces; and 19 (of 20) culs-de-lampe; lacks the frontispiece; plates 2, 6, 7, 10, 12-15, and 17-20; full-page cul-de-lampe to Canto 17; and portrait of Piazzetta and Albrizzi at end. Folio, approximately 478x325 mm, 20th-century vellum boards with leather lettering piece, discoloration on front cover, book block loose in binding; minor soiling and stains toward bottom of half-title, title, and portrait, small repair in blank lower outer corner of half-title and title, faint even dampstaining on few text leaves at very end, blank gutter of leaf 192 partly restored, contents otherwise generally clean and bright but with faint musty smell. Venice: Giambattista Albrizzi, 1745

Additional Details

first edition of the most famous Venetian illustrated book of the 18th century; first issue, with the name and arms of the sponsors in the plate borders.