Marshall Rare Books
Theatre des états de son Altesse Royale le Duc de Savoye. Tome I: Contenant le Piémont, la ville de Turin, et les lieux voisin. Tome II: Contenant la Savoye. Traduit du Latin en François.
A Splendid Very Large Copy. First edition in French of Duke Charles Emanuel II of Savoy's ambitious plan to add Piedmont and Savoy to the Blaeu's planned gigantic multi-volume atlas of the towns and monuments of Italy. In the event, Blaeu only saw the volumes relating to the Ecclesiastical State, Rome and Naples & Sicily through the press, with those for Piedmont and Savoy published posthumously. The plates in the present work are the same as those in the earlier Dutch edition, but with the addition of the portrait of Victor Amédée II, Duke of Savoy.
The Hague: Adrian Moetjens, 1700, 2 volumes, folio (576 x 350 mm). Publisher’s mottled calf gilt, covers panelled in gilt with large central arabesque with armillary sphere, gilt spines and edges.
A Splendid Very Large Copy.
First edition in French of Duke Charles Emanuel II of Savoy’s ambitious plan to add Piedmont and Savoy to the Blaeu’s planned gigantic multi-volume atlas of the towns and monuments of Italy. In the event, Blaeu only saw the volumes relating to the Ecclesiastical State, Rome and Naples & Sicily through the press, with those for Piedmont and Savoy published posthumously. The plates in the present work are the same as those in the earlier Dutch edition, but with the addition of the portrait of Victor Amédée II, Duke of Savoy.
Volume I, Piedmont: engraved allegorical frontispiece, genealogical table, heraldic crest with the arms of the dukes of Savoy, 3 portraits and 65 views, maps and monuments, all but 4 double-page with the panoramic view of Turin engraved on two plates. Volume II, Savoy: engraved allegorical frontispiece and 69 views, maps and monuments, all but 6 double-page with the views of Tonon, Aosta, Mondovi, Garessio, Bielle and Adurni each engraved on 2 plates. Both titles with engraved vignettes and letterpress printed in red and black (a few plates in vol. I and a couple towards end of vol. II trimmed just into plate mark, but not into image).
The contemporary owner, Christoph Wentzel, Graf von Nostitz, was a well-known bibliophile, and built a library to house his exceptionally rich book collection at his residence at Lobris, near Javory (Jauer) in Silesia. In 1823 at least some of the library was moved to the castle library at Planá (Plan). The bulk of his famous library was sold in 1933-34 (see B. Fabian, Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland, 2003). Van der Krogt IV-1, 43:322.1-2.
Provenance: Christoph Wentzel, Graf von Nostitz (1648-1712; engraved armorial bookplate with his initials) – [collection of German sculptor Ottmar Hollman (1915-2005) and Russian painter Paraskewe von Bereskine (1889-1980)].