La Libreria de’Volpi, e la Stamperia Cominiana. Illustrate con utili e curiose Annotazioni. Avvertenze necessarie e profittevoli a Bibliotecarj, e agli Amatori de ‘buoni Libri.
Padova: Appresso Giuseppe Comino, 1756. Item #1413 Bound-with: Catalogo de’ Libri Cominiani ancora vendibili, co’legittimi loro prezzi a ragion di pronti contanti: A diversi de’ quali in questa novella impressione si sono aggiunte alcune osservazione. Padova: Appresso Giuseppe Comino, 1744. Together two volumes in one. 8vo. 178 x 113 mm., [7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches]. I: xiv, [2], 592, [2] pp; With an engraved printer’s device on the title-page and the Volpi engraved coat-of-arms on the last plate. II: xxiv pp. Bound in contemporary half velum, double lettering pieces on spine for title and date; sprinkled edges. Some occasional marginal foxing but a very good copy. Very good copy of this rare, private library catalogue, printed in 200 copies (as stated in the preface) and bound-with the 1744 catalogue of printed books offered for sale by the Stamperia Cominiani. In 1717 the brothers Giovanni and Gaetano Volpi opened a printing press to produce high quality copies of classical editions and of Italian authors, entrusting the management of the printing press to Giuseppe Comino. The company lasted until 1756, the year this library catalogue was printed, and the collection of books was sold to the Abbot Celotti of Venice. The first part of the catalogue contains the description of books that formed the private library of the Volpi family, the greater part collected by Giovanni Domenico Volpi, Giovanni Antonio Volpi and his son Gaetano Volpi. There are more than 4,000 volumes listed, many of which have significant historical and critical notes. The second part of the catalogue, beginning at page 395 contains the chronological catalogue of all the books printed by the Stamperia Cominiana from 1717 to 1756. At the end of the volume is s separately printed catalogue, dated 1744, containing a list of books from the Stamperia that were available for sale with prices. Like the private library catalogue, this catalogue of books for sale is very rare, and is not called for in Francesco Federici’s collation found in Annali della Tipografia Volpi-Cominiana, printed in Padua in 1809. “In the preface Gaetano Volpi, explains for book lovers, the origin and criteria for compiling the catalogue. It begins with the desire to publicize one’s library and the hope of ensuring its survival, at least partially, through memory. Volpi continues by writing about the importance of the printing catalogues of private collections, so they can be used by public institutions that foster learning. He laments the loss of information about libraries and mentions collections in Padua that should be recorded including those collected by Giovanni Poleni, Giovanbattista Morgagni, Antonio Vallisnieri, and Guglielmo Camposampiero. Finally, Volpi writes about the how a catalogue should be organized so that it could be easily used and the richness of the collection understood without verbosity or vanity.” (translated and edited from Gianna Boni’s work see citation below)
Bigmore and Wyman. A Bibliography of Printing, III, p. 54, “Very Rare”. G. Fumagalli. Lexicon Typographicum Italiae, pp. 274-75. Ottino & Fumagalli, Bibliotheca Bibliographica Italica, no. 350. Gianna del Bono. Storia delle Biblioteche fra Settecento e Novecento. Saggio Bibliografico. I cataloghi di biblioteca nella collezione Diomede Bonamici (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Firenze), Vecchiarelli Editore, 1995. See no 9, pp. 85-6 for a detailed description of the catalogue.
Price: $3,000.00