Bibliografia Storico-Ragionata della Toscana. O sia catalogo degli scrittori che hanno illustrata la storia delle Citta, Luoghi, e Persone della Medesima

Two volumes. 4to. 260 x 185 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches). xii, 531 pp.; xii, 551 pp. Late nineteenth century calf spine and tips, over marbled paper boards; some rubbing to joints and a few scrapes to corner pieces, but sound and attractive. With the bookplate of Anthony Hobson.

 First edition of Moreni's first major work, still a standard book on the bibliography of Tuscany. Based on a collection of books and manuscripts that Moreni collected, this bibliographical study of the history and literature of Florence and Tuscany includes over 7,500 entries, many with significant annotations. The contents are still useful today and scholars of Florence in particular find it filled with interesting and informative notes that are not found elsewhere. Written with the help of Domenico Maria Manni, Moreni's mentor, this work is an exemplar of the level of erudition and scholarship achieved by late 18th and early 19th century Italian bibliographers.

 Domenico Moreni was educated at the monastery in Lucca, a member of the literary elite of Tuscany, a correspondent with historians and authors all over Italy, a member of the Accademia della Crusca, and appointed Canon of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, from where he conducted his research. Over his career he published 73 bibliographical and historical books and has entered the pantheon of Florentine scholars who contributed so much to the elevation of historical study in the late 18th century. At the end of his life Domenico Maria Manni gave his vast historical library to Moreni who by the 1790's had built a considerable collection of books and manuscripts of his own. Called "Biblioteca Moreniana" the collection was donated to the city of Florence by his family after his death and in 1942 was transferred to the Biblioteca Riccardiana where it resides today.

 Besterman World Bibliography of Bibliographies, IV, 4126. Carlo Frati, Dizionario Bio-Bibliografico dei Bibliotecari e Bibliofili Italiani,  p. 384-85. Ottino e Fumagalli, Bibliotheca Bibliographica Italica,  1549. See Piero Scapecchi's (former curator of manuscripts at the Biblioteca Nazionale Firenze) article on Moreni in volume 76 of the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.