The Blue Arcadians

Rime per le faustissime nozze del nobil uomo Signore Marchese Silvio Maccarani con la nobil Donna Signora Orsola Priuli Stazio. Rome, Fulgoni, 1787.

8° (211x136 mm). Printed on blue paper. [63], 1 pages. Engraved vignette on the title-page. Small woodcut ornaments and tailpieces. Contemporary marbled calf, covers within gilt frieze. Smooth spine, richly decorated in gilt with the same pattern. Floral-patterned paper pastedowns and flyleaves. Red edges. Board edges rather abraded; small loss to the lower headcap. A very good copy, printed on thick paper. Small loss to the lower margin of the second front flyleaf; title-page slightly discoloured, some minor foxing. The pencilled note ‘810.P.39’ on the upper outer corner of the second front flyleaf.

An elegant copy of this poetic collection, published on the occasion of the marriage of Roman nobleman Silvio Maccarani to the Venetian Orsola Priuli.

The publication originated in the milieu of the celebrated Roman Academy of the Arcadians, of which Maccarani himself was a member. It was edited by Count Giuseppe Maria Vendettini, one of the twelve ‘Colleghi d’Arcadia’. Each poem is introduced with the name of its author, followed by the indication of his Arcadian name. The volume opens with a sonnet composed by Vendettini himself, known as Cleanto Ereate. This is followed by the lengthy Capitolo by Gioacchino Pizzo, then ‘Custode Generale dell’Arcadia’. As usual in the Roman editions, the verso of the last leaf bears the imprimatur of the Maestro del Sacro Palazzo. Interestingly, however, these permissions are preceded by the editor’s statement: “each expression taken from Mythology is a bare poetical ornament, and not a sentimento of the Catholic authors”.

S. Franchi, Drammaturgia romana, II (1701-1750), Roma 1997, pp. LVI-LVII.