Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi

Rome: Lorenzo Lazaro alle Covervile, 1809. Oblong folio. 10 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches). Engraved throughout: title and 50 plates, by Pinelli. Contemporary dark green half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, small decorative green morocco title label

Provenance: John Thomas Mott (Barningham, Norfolk, armorial bookplate)

First edition of the first and best known collection of views of the picturesque costume of Italy.

This highly evocative series was a justified 'best-seller' - published in various forms from 1808 to 1828, every 'grand tourist' would return with a copy of this work. The present example, a first edition, shows a crispness that tends to be lost with the later reprints. The images are by turns joyful, comedic, dramatic, tragic and work-a-day. All are engraved with a sureness of line and matchless sense of composition that are the hallmarks of Pinelli's work. The final plate represents the artist himself: Pinelli relaxes, his work done, seated on some Roman masonry, two dogs for company. Cicognara noted that : "Questi sono tolti la più parte dalle abitudini del popolo romano, e sono espressi con una verità e fedeltà insuperabile".

Benezit X 951; Choix 17.803; Cicognara 1762; Colas 2370; Hiler 712; Lipperheide Ja12; Nagler XII 480 Nuc 459; Rossetti III n° 8195; Vinet 2294.