Tiraboschi (incis

Tiraboschi Girolamo (1731-1794), History of the Augusta Abbey of S. Silvestro of Nonantola, to which is added the diplomatic code of the same illustrious work, illustrated with notes by Cavaliere Ab. Girolamo Tiraboschi, counselor of S.A.S., president of the Ducal Library and of the Medal Gallery, and honorary professor of the University of Modena. Volume 1. [-2.] In Modena, at the Typographic Society, 1784-1785: 2 FOLIO VOLUMES (38.5 x 27 cm), punched with eyelets, title pages in red and black, pp. XIX, [1], 526, [6]; XIX, [1], 588, [4]. Gauffered cut edges, contemporary half-leather binding, with gold titles on labels and gilt decorations on the spines, boards in marbled carton. Very ample margins. Illustrated. COMPLETE SET ICONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS: Splendid decorative apparatus of 99 original copper engravings and 1 full-page plate, 98 by Carlo Antonini (one of the most important Roman engravers, known for the 4 volumes of antiquities): 2 vignettes on the title pages; 38 engraved initials, 33 headings including views of the abbey and of cities and religious complexes (mostly in Emilia-Romagna) and magnificent crests of the dedicatee (son of the Duke of Modena) and of abbots, 25 finials still with views and Rococo decorations, complete with the large “Carta della Diocesi dell’Augusta Badia di Nonantola” (72.5 x 51 cm.), drawn by Giovanni Pitteri and Giovanni Costa and engraved by Zuliani at the end of vol. 1, often missing because highly sought after. Compilted complete (including endpapers and eyelets). VIEWS: the engravings (mostly in vol. 1) are significant, besides their high quality, for their iconography. The 16 views depict: View of Nonantola; Abbey Palace of the monastery; Facade of Modena Cathedral; Its flank; Nonantola Cathedral; View of Fanano; Church of S. Michele di Nonantola; View of Bologna; View of Castelvetro; Church of S. Luca di Camurana; View of Sestola; View of Crevalcore; View of Serra S. Abbondio; Monastery of Fonte Avellana; View of Reggio Emilia). They are of great documentary interest for the abbey before the Napoleonic damages and the eighteenth-nineteenth century restorations. DUCAL COMMISSION AND MASTERPIECE OF ERUDITION: A work entirely dedicated to one of the most significant realities of Italian monasticism, Tiraboschi’s History of the Abbey of Nonantola is at the same time one of the happiest outcomes of eighteenth-century interest in ancient monastic institutions and, in the purely editorial sense, the result of the Estates’ desire to glorify their patronage: indeed, the substantial financial contribution to the work by the bishop and commendatario abbot of Nonantola, Francesco Maria d’Este, is noteworthy. The work prides itself on beautiful engravings by Carlo Antonini, on the title pages and in the text, set as headers and finials. Given that the commission was of a ducal scope, precisely from Abbot Francesco Maria d’Este, natural son of the Duke of Modena Francesco III, the lavish iconographic apparatus and the generous allocation for the great engraver and for the Veneto group explain themselves. This, Tiraboschi’s scholarly masterpiece, was completed after examining the parchments kept in the abbey (issued in vol. 2), also thanks to the help of Andrea Piccolo Ansaloni, vicar of Nonantola. The edition is extraordinarily rich in indices and apparatus, contained in vol. 2, while the two parts of vol. 1 are devoted to historical dissertations and appendices. In the preface, Tiraboschi, taking the side of Mario Lupo, author of the Codex diplomaticus, in the polemic with Pietro Verri (Mari, 1990, p. 35), criticized the “grave and severe philosophers of our days,” who “despise minute research” (I, p. IX). The polemic was renewed when, in 1785, he published, in the Padua edition of the Encyclopédie méthodique, a Discours sur l’autorité des historiens contemporains, in which he affirmed the faith “in documentary verification, in the relentless scrutiny of sources” (Arato, 2002, p. 257), continuing the polemic against ideological reconstructions of philosophical histories ( Medievalism vs. the history of ideas ante litteram? in the continuation in the second half of the century of post-Muratorian erudition in the Estense duchies - Tiraboschi was also director of the Estense Library): see E. Zucchi, Tiraboschi Girolamo, in DBI, 95 (2019). Condition: interiors good in vol. 1 (small hole on the rear board penetrating to the last leaves and causing 3 little holes in the folded map; foxing mostly on the first and last leaves, otherwise high-quality, fresh paper); vol. 2 shows a conspicuous loss at the upper inside corner, though only at the white margin, not touching text or images (see photos), on the first leaves (including the title page), which shrinks and disappears as you go (aureole on the inner white margins; from p. 80 onward, no sign): this is due to damage to the binding that allowed water intrusion; otherwise foxing on the first and last leaves as in vol. 1. Bindings both in poor condition (although vol. 1 binding is structurally solid, vol. 2 has a break of 2 cords out of 5 on the front hinge), damaged spines and covers (rebinding in reinforced marbled carton is advised and would “contain” the defect in vol. 2). Iconographic apparatus (99 engravings, large and small) complete and without damage (except for the 3 insignificant holes in the map). The price is very modest for this famous work; it takes into account that I own two copies and the damage to vol. 2 (currently for sale no complete copy, but only a single loose volume among 600 and 1,000 euros and the 20th-century reprint at 500; rare at auction).

Estimate:$1,008.21

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