KIRCHER (Athanasius). Latium. Amsterdam: Jean Jansson in Wae - Lot 86

KIRCHER (Athanasius). Latium. Amsterdam: Jean Jansson in Waesberge, 1671. Folio, light calfskin, decorated spine, red title label, roulette featuring a crowned fleur-de-lis and dolphin at the top and bottom, red edges (Early 18th-century binding). First edition, illustrated with a superb allegorical frontispiece etched by Romain de Hooghe, a beautiful, unsigned portrait of Pope Clement X, 24 (of 25) plates, maps and views—some of which are double-page spreads—and 20 copperplate engravings within the text. This beautiful work is nothing less than a love song to Latium, the region of central Italy where Kircher resided from 1635 until his death in 1680. It contains the author’s topographical experiments and historical research conducted in the Eternal City and its surroundings. (Caillet, no. 5777; Dorbon, no. 2385; Merrill, no. 23.) Handwritten ex libris at the top of the title page: Ex musaeo Linotte du Tilliot Anno 1714. A long handwritten note concerning Father Kircher covering the first endpaper. A label with a handwritten note glued to the double-page spread on pp. 156–157. Numerous foxing spots in the text, some of them severe. Some scuffing and scratches on the binding; missing cap pieces; a very small tear in one spine, 2 cm long.

Estimate:£1,714.76

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