Giovanni Giardini

GIARDINI, Giovanni.  DESEGNI DIVERSI INTENTATI E DELINEATI DE GIOVANNI DIARDINI DA FORLI.  Two parts bound as one.

(Roma): 1714. Folio. Calf spine, contemporary marbled boards. Engraved title and dedication, 53 engraved plates; engraved title and dedication, 46 plates numbered 54-99. First edition, first issue?

A gorgeous, rococo pattern book for goldsmiths and silversmiths with both secular and ecclesiastical designs.  The author, Giovanni Giardini (1646-1721), was appointed the Vatican's chief metalworker in 1698.  His designs are reminiscent of Bernini.  In many cases, this design book is the only record of Giardini's work as many pieces from the Papal collection were melted down by Napoleon's troops.  Rare, with only one copy cited by the NUC, for the New York Public Library.  The Berlin Catalogue (number 1141) calls for one hundred numbered plates as does the copy offered in Robin Halwas' Catalogue 4, but their copies have plate numbers engraved in the plates; our copy is numbered by hand, indicating an earlier state of the work.  There is no indication a Plate 100 was ever bound-in.  Sympathetically rebacked, the first title leaf was trimmed and remounted in the distant past; name in ink on first dedication and a modern inscription on the front blank; some minor marginal spotting, but generally a very nice, fresh copy of an important and rare work.

$6,725.00