Pauli maccii emblemata cum privilegiis... by MACCIO, Paolo (c. 1570-1640) - 1628

Bologna: Clemens Ferronius superiorum permissis exudebat (Clemente Ferroni), 1628. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. 4to (209 x 145mm). Pagination: 1-331pp., [5]. Signatures: A-Z(4); AA-TT(4). Engraved heraldic title page within typographical border, dedicatory plate of the crowned Virgin Mary and Christ Child in a landscape and 81 full-page emblematic engravings, including one of a corpse for the last emblem LXXXI, a memento mori. Some etchings signed with the monogram A(gustinus) P(arisinus); Florius Macchius; Oliviero Gatti. Text in Latin or Italian verse. Modern half vellum over decorative papers, spine ‘MACCII EMBLEMATA’; (few marginal dampstains, otherwise excellent). Some early ownership inscriptions on title, mostly effaced. Modern armorial bookplate of Bibliotheque I.G. Schorsch on front pastedown.

First edition and one of the finest illustrated emblem books produced in Bologna during the Italian Baroque. Paolo Maccio’s Emblemata was the combined work of four important Italian artists. The engraved title and 26 of the emblems were engraved by Giovanni Battista Coriolano (c.1587-1649), a pupil of prominent early-Baroque engraver Giovanni Luigi Valesio (1583-1650). The dedicatory plate and 52 of the emblems are the work of Oliviero Gatti (fl. 1610-1630), also a disciple of Valesio. The remaining plates were the work of Bolognese engraver Agostino Parisini (fl. 1625-1639) after designs by Florio Macchio, a pupil of Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619). Maccio’s emblem book was celebrated in its time for its exceptionally fine and curious engravings, many of which depicted contemporary life in early Italian society. Cicognara 1913; Landwehr Romanic, 496; Praz, pp. 101-102.