Elogi Italiani.
Impressi in Venezia: da Piero Marcuzzi, 1782. Item #1410 12 volumes. 8vo. 185 x 135 mm., [7 ¼ x 5 inches]. Complete copy with a very complicated pagination scheme; detail upon request. Bound in original stiff wrappers covered in decorative paper , white paper label at head of spine. The front wrapper of the first volume has been repaired by brown paper, some wear and chipping especially to the spines, and some worming to the pastedowns. There is sporadic worming to several volumes. But without loss of an entire letter, otherwise a clean copy with only very light spotting in a few places. In general, this is a very attractive copy of a very rare review of Italian literature during the last quarter of the 18th century. First edition, Presentation Copy, some volumes with inscriptions, others with Rubbi’s ‘dono’ label, from the author to Giovanni Battista Giovio, Rubbi’s contemporary and noted poet, scientist and historian. Trained by the Jesuits, Adrea Rubbi lived in Venice after the suppression of the Order and began a career as a journalists and poet. As a member of the local literati, Rubbi became determined to counter the view of the inferiority of Italian authors to their French counterparts. He became a vocal advocate for Italian literature and produced his most important work, Elogi Italiaini in 1782, with contributions by other Venetian writers including Ippolito Pindemonte, Antoni Cerati, and Giovanni Battista Giovio, the recipient of Rubbi’s presentation. “In reaction to the prevailing gallomania [Rubbi] systematically championed Italian literature by editing twelve volumes of Elogi Italiani, a vast poetic compendium, Il Parnasso Italiano, (46 volumes, 1784-1791), and an anthology of work by 160 living poets, Il giornale poetico (1789-1792)” (Oxford Companion to Italian Literature).
Very rare set in North America. OCLC cites a complete set at Toronto, but no copies are recorded in an American library. NUC lists copies at Cornel, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Yale. See Giulio Natali, Enciclopedia Italiana (1936) for biographical information.
Price: $2,750.00