IL GAZZETTIERE AMERICANO CONTENENTE UN DISTINTO RAGGUAGLIO DI TUTTE LE PARTI DEL NUOVO MONDO DELLA LORO SITUAZIONE, CLIMA, TERRENO, PRODOTTI, STATO ANTICO E MODERNO, MERCI, MANIFATTURE, E COMMERCIO...

Livorno: Marco Coltellini, 1763.. Three volumes. xxiii,216,[1]; 256,[1]; 253,[2]pp. Seventy-eight engraved maps and plates (twenty-four of them folding). Frontis. Half title in first volume. Large quarto. Contemporary vellum, spines gilt. Some wear and light staining to boards, spine ends of first and third volumes repaired, spines a bit darkened. Occasional light foxing and soiling, small holes at lower outside edges of frontispiece and titlepage of vol. 1 (due to paper faults). Contemporary donation inscription on each titlepage. Very good. The first edition of the Italian translation of this handsomely illustrated topographical dictionary of the New World, providing information on the geography, natural history, manufactures, trade and commerce, settlements and fortifications in North and South America. This edition is vastly superior to the first English from which it is translated; that work has only eight maps and is on a duodecimo format. "A comparison of the entries [between the English and Italian editions] shows that although the words were translated literally the printer, Marco Coltellini, has elevated the cramped, unattractive English original into a handsome book, and the visual effect of the Italian edition is strikingly superior. Because it is a translation of an English work, there is much more information about the English colonies in America than is found in most geographical books written by continental authors up to this time" - Hough. Howes similarly affords this Italian edition a higher rating than its English progenitor. The beautiful plates and maps, drawn from a variety of sources, richly illustrate this edition, with scenes of Quebec, Niagara Falls, cod fishing in Newfoundland, New York, Boston, Santiago, Acapulco, Lima, Havana, Florida, St. Eustatius, and Santo Domingo, and maps of the Great Lakes, Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, New England, Jamaica, Barbados, and many other locales. There are also images of American birds, animals, peoples, buildings, etc.

A handsome set of this richly illustrated American gazetteer. BELL G46. HOUGH, ITALIANS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA 81. HOWES A207, "b." TPL 345. SABIN 26814. LeCLERC 233. JCB I:1355. SERVIES 431. CLARK 1:188. PHILLIPS, ATLASES 1161.