The Magnificence of Venice

Graevius, Johann Georg (1632-1703).

Splendor Magnificentissimae Urbis Venetiarum Clarissimus; E Figuris elegantissimis, & accurata Descriptione emicans; In Duas Partes distributus.... Leiden, Peter Van der Aa, 1722.

Two parts in one volume, folio (393x243 mm). [18], 242; [4], 247-324, 324a-324k, 362, 362a, 363, 363a, 364, 364a, 365, 365a, 366, 366a, 367, 367a, 368, 368a, 369-419, [1] pages. Title-pages printed in red and black, with engraved vignettes. One large folding bird's-eye view of Venice (475x1075 mm), one folding chart of the city (490x570 mm), and 115 double-page plates (395x440 mm), all engraved. Contemporary polished calf, covers within triple gilt fillet. Spine with six raised bands, richly gilt; title in gold on morocco lettering-piece. Marbled flyleaves. Edges marbled. Covers slightly worn and rubbed, front joint partly open. A fine, wide-margined copy, with a very good impression of the plates. Slightly uniformly browned.

First edition of this lavishly illustrated book, which was issued as part of the monumental publication Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae (it is part Secunda and Tertia of the fifth volume) and edited by the German scholar Johann Georg Graevius, a disciple of Daniel Heinsius in Leiden. From 1662 Graevius taught rhetoric, history, and politics at the University of Utrecht, and was well known for his editions of Latin classics as well as the great collection Thesaurus antiquitatum Romanarum.

The forty-five volume Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae was published posthumously by the Leiden printer Vander Aa between 1704 and 1725. Graevius was able to edit only the first six volumes; his pupil Pieter Burmann was responsible for the remaining thirty-nine.

The fine illustrative apparatus supplementing the present volume shows the monuments of Venice, as well as popular and religious festivals, regattas, ceremonies, processions, and parades. The engravings are mainly based on images by Vincenzo Coronelli and Luca Carlevarijs, while the texts are mostly taken from the work of Domenico Martinelli.

These views of Venice were re-issued by Peter Vander Aa in his La galerie agréable du monde (Leiden 1729), and again in 1762 by Cornelis Haak under the title Vües des palais.

Cassini, 69-70; Cicogna 4478; J. Martineau - A. Robinson (eds.), The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century, London 1994; P. G. Hoftijzer, Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733). Leids drukker en boekverkoper, Hilversum 1999; Philobiblon, One Thousand Years of Bibliophily, no. 227.