MOST LAVISH 19TH CENTURY WORK

FERRARIO, GIULIO (Edt.).

Il costume antico e moderno o storia del governo, della milizia, della religione, delle arti, scienze ed usanze di tutti i popoli antichi e moderni provata coi monumenti dell' antichita e rappresentata cogli analoghi disegni.

Milan, Tipografia dell'editore, 1829-1834.

Large4to (380 x 265 mm). Uniformly bound, uncut and many leaves unopened, in 25 contemporary half calf bindings with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spines. Extremities with heavy wear; Most spines are missing part of the leather or are partly detached from book block. Corners bumped. Internally, with very light occassional brownspotting to blank margins, but overall fine and clean throughout with a total of 1491 (out of approximately 1619) exquisitly hand-coloured aquatint plates all with publisher's blindstamp. Most volumes numbered. SEE BELOW FOR COLLATION.


The sumptuous luxury edition with numbered copies, printed on velin with "del socio Signor Giorgio Ferrario" printed on title-pages, of Ferrario’s monumental and extraordinary pictorial encyclopedia of world culture with magnificent hand-coloured aquatint plates depicting costumes, artifacts, scenic views, buildings, ruins, animals and plants from all over the world. The work was published several times, in both French and Italian and in various formats. However, the present publication constitute by far the most lavish and extensive edition, here with the three supplement volumes (Aggiunte) and one register volume (Indice Generale) - all four volumes complete - with much new material on Asia, India, the Pacific, Africa, Ancient Egypt, Europe and the Americas. 

Born in Milan in 1767, Ferrario was an erudite ecclesiastic charged with the direction of the Biblioteca Braidense, the main public library in the city. "The historical context in which ‘Il costume antico e moderno’ is that of the aftermatch of the French Revolution, the formation of Napoleon’s Empire, and the Habsburg takeover of parts of it, namely the kingdom of Italy and Illyria, within the transformations affecting the Ottoman Empire and its European regions due to the Russian Empire’s aggressive military policy. Ferrario lived through Napoleon’s reign in Italy, including its demise in 1814. He then became a faithful subject of the Austrian monarchy and dedicated his major work to the Habsburg Emperor Francis I. He died in Milan in 1847." (Calvi, Translating Imperial Practices, Knowledge, and Taste Across the Mediterranean: Giulio Ferrario and Ignatius Mouradgea d’Ohsson).

“A sophisticated philologist and cultural entrepreneur, Ferrario used his intellectual activity and public persona to acquire a meaningful position in the urban cultural milieu of Milan, the capital of the kingdom of Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte. Charged with different responsibilities in this lieu du savoir for over forty years, Ferrario used the extensive collections of the Biblioteca Braidense to gather a group of scholars and artists around his initiative. These contemporaries shared similar cultural and aesthetic concerns, and contributed to this first major collection of Italian literary classics in 242 volumes.” (Vintila-Ghitulescu, Women, Consumption, and the Circulation of Ideas in South-Eastern Europe). 

He edited the present work to be a collection aimed at popularizing knowledge of exotic and foreign cultures in an encyclopedic format using a blend of erudition and entertainment. Acknowledging the support of many public and private libraries, scholars, scientists, and art collectors, Ferrario explains his methodology: “We have concentrated in a single work sources that were disseminated in rare and extremely expensive volumes, for our young students to benefit from […]. We hope that the fine arts will also profit from our work, as artists will no longer have to search in vain for the ideal costumes.”. 

“Funding for the project was obtained through public subscription. Emperor Francis I, whose name was followed by thirteen members of the European royalty and high nobility. All customers could choose hand-coloured and black and white editions. Subscriptions were made by numerous public libraries in Italy, as well as in cities such as Berlin, Leipzig, London, Mannheim, Munich, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. Among individual subscribers , there were book sellers, printers, merchants, traders, painters, engravers, states employees and eccleastics.
The Milanese Giulio Ferrario (1767-1847) was librarian of the Library Braidense, erudite and educated, successful author of historical and literary works cut. This monumental documentation of customs and traditions of the world was compiled by Ferrario with the help of several collaborators; widely acclaimed throughout Europe as well as 'more' times reprinted, also it was translated outside the Italian borders. A veritable mine of historical information, geographical, ethnological and anthropological, also apply to parts of the world at the time still poorly investigated”. (Vintila-Ghitulescu, Women, Consumption, and the Circulation of Ideas in South-Eastern Europe).

Colas 1051.
Brunet II, 1232f.
Graesse II, P. 571.
Hiler 311.

____________________________

THE SET CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING:

AFRICA, (2 vols): 

- Africa, Primo parte. No. 22. 480 pp + 43 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 77 plantes. Wanting: IV, XIII, XXI, XXIX, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLV, XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, LI, LIII, LV, LVI, LXI, LXIII, LXV, LXVIII, LXIX, LXXI, LXXII, LXXIII, LXXIV, LXXV, LXXVI, LXXVII).

- Africa, Secondo parte. No 15. 543, (1) pp + 83 coloured plates (complete).

AMERICA (2 vols - Complete)

- Dell’America. Parte Prima. America Settentrionale. No. 17. (1829). 638, (1) + 87 hand coloured plates (complete)

- (7) Dell’America. Parte Seconda. America Meridionale. No. 22. 560 pp. + 80 hand coloured plates (complete)

ASIA (4 parts in 5 volumes) 

- Dell’Asia. Volume Primo. No. 22. XXVI, (2), 468 pp. + 62 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 87, wanting the following: XIV, XV, XVIII, XIX, XXII, XXVIII, XXX, XXXVII, XXXVIII, LIII, LXII, LXIV, LXV, LXVI,LXVII, LXXI, LXII,LXXIX, LXXX, LXXXII, LXXXIII, LXXXVII)

- Dell’Asia. Volume Secondo, Parte Prima. 313 pp. + 62 Hand Coloured plates.

- Dell’Asia. Descrizione delle Isole Ceilan, Maldive e Lachedive, Volume Secondo, Parte Seconda. Pp. 315-600 + 29 hand coloured plates (Complete).

- Dell’Asia. Volume Terzo. De Fenicj, De Siri, Degli Arabi. No. 40. 615, (1) pp. + 61 hand coloured plates (Out of a total of 75: Wanting: VI, XXI, LII, LIII, LVIII, LXII, LXIV, LXV, LXVII, LXIX, LXX, LXXII. LXXIII, LXXIV.

- Dell’Asia. Volume Quatro. No. 40. 610, (1) pp. + 97 hand coloured plates. (Complete).

EUROPE (6 parts in 12 volumes)

- Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Prima + Appendice. No. 15. 572, 43 pp. + 83 hand coloured plates. (Out of a total of 90, wanting: II, XXXIV, XLIX, L, LXXIII LXXXVIII, LXXXIX)

- Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Seconda. No. 17. (4), 573-1109, (3), 19 pp. + 11 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 65. Wanting: XCII, XCIII, XCIV, XCV, XCVI, XCVII, XCVIII,XCIX, CII, CIII, CVI, CVIII, CIX, CX, CXI, CXII, CXIV, CXV, CXVI, CXVII, CXVIII, CXIX, CXX, CXXI,CXXII, CXXIII, CXXIV, CXXV, CXXVI, CXXVII, CXXVIII, CXXIX, CXXX, CXXXI, CXXXII,CXXXIII, CXXXV,CXXXVI, CXXXVII, CXXXIX, CXXXIX, CXXXIX, CXL, CXLIV, CXIV,CXLVI, CXLVII, CXLVIII, CXLIX, CL, CLI,)

- Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Terza. No. 15. 447, (1) pp. + 70 hand coloured plates (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Secondo. 604 pp. 107 hand coloured plates (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Terzo, Parte Prima. (2), 328, XII pp. + 48 hand coloured plates (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Terzo, Parte Seconda. No. 17. Pp. (4), 329-1007, (1) + 92 hand coloured plates.

- Dell’Europa. Volume Quarto, Parte Prima. 326 pp. + 46 hand coloured plates.

- Dell’Europa. Volume Quarto, Parte Seconda. Pp. 327-808 + 54 hand coloured plates. (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Sesto, Parte Prima. No. 40. 328 pp. + 35 hand coloured plates. (Out of a total of 50, wanting: I, III, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XLIII, XLIV, XLV,XLVI, XLVII, XLVII, XLIX, L.)

- Dell’Europa. Volume Sesto. Parte Second. 27, 207, (1) + 33 hand coloured plates (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Quinto. No. 17. 215, (1), XIX, (1) pp. + 35 hand coloured plates (complete).

- Dell’Europa. Volume Quinto, Parte Seconda. 386, (1) pp. 68 hand coloured plates, (complete).
 
SUPPLEMENTS AND REGISTER 

- Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Primo. 496 pp. + 97 hand coloured plates. (complete).

- Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Secondo. 443 pp. + 54 hand coloured plates. (complete).

- Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Terzo. 268 pp. + 46 hand coloured plates (complete)

- Indice Generale. VIII, 452 pp. + 5 hand coloured plates.

Order-nr.: 60136


DKK 95.000,00