La coltivazione del Riso del Marchese Gian Battista Spolverini.
Verona: Stamperia Giuliani, 1796. Item #1064 4to: 305 x 130 mm., [12 x 9 inches]. xvi, 224 pp. Engraved portrait of the author by de Bernardi after Agos. Ugolini. Bound in contemporary boards, spine a bit chipped, edges bumped and a bit worn, and joints previously repaired. Printed on good paper with wide margins.; text block lightly foxed. A sound copy. Third edition, originally published in 1763. This edition contains a biography of the Marchese Solverini (1695-1763) a minor poet educated in Bologna who was inspired by the Georgics of Virgil. His poem, dedicated to the Elisabetta Farnese, is written in four canto and nearly 5000 lines. It captures the pastoral environment of the Emilia Romagna, the nobility of the paesani who cultivate the land, and the beauty of the aqua alta which floods the land to produce the rice. His lyrics also contain the importance of rice as a staple part of the diet of the Italian people. It appears that this is the only poem published by Spolverini but it had significant influence and was reprinted throughout the 19th century and the most recent edition was published in 1995. It is mentioned in many scholarly works on Virgil and pastoral poetry and there were a number of eulogies published about Spolverini years after his death.
Henssler, Maria Paleari, Bibliografia Latino-Italiani di Gastronomia, I. p. 698; (1998). Niccoli, Saggio Storico e Bibliografico dell’Agricultura Italiana, p. 204.
Price: $450.00