Books and Manuscripts

Coronelli, (Vincenzo) M(aria).
Memorie istoriografiche delli regni della Morea e Negroponte
Venezia, 1686. First edition, 16 x 11 1/4 in. (406 x 286 mm). Unpaginated (45 leaves). With an engraved half-title page, engraved title-page, engraved coat of arms of the Duke of Brunswick, and 45 leaves of text. Illustrated with 16 double-page plates, 15 engraved vignettes in text, and with four smaller plates on two sheets (according to Atabey, "usually found in the French folio edition"); without the scarce large map of Morea called for in Armao, which is similarly not found in the Atabey copy. Full contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine; all edges trimmed; Libreria di Brolio book-plate on front paste-down; scattered light spotting in margins; tear along fore-edge of p. (20/21), but not affecting text; text likely washed; in gray cloth fall-down-back box. Atabey 286; Blackmer 408, second edition

A handsome and scarce first edition of Vincenzo Maria Coronelli's best known work, a cartographic tour of the eastern Mediterranean, published to celebrate the recent Venetian victories over the Ottomans in the Morean War. An impressive 15 editions of this work appeared between 1686 and 1688, with editions in Italian, French, English, German, and Dutch.

As noted in the Blackmer sale, "As is often the case with Coronelli's works, difficulties of collation arise. 'The plates in any work by Coronelli present a problem, as he added and subtracted or changed plates as he saw fit.'" (p. 37). This is evident in the present copy. When compared against copies held in the Getty, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, and in the National Library of the Czech Republic, each varies slightly from each other, including this copy, in regards to number of leaves and plates, types of plates used, as well as textually. This copy corresponds to the number of plates called for in Atabey.