Lot 185: FERRERIO, Pietro (1600-54) & Giovanni Battista FALDA (1648-78). Palazzi di Roma de più celebri

FERRERIO, Pietro (1600-54) & Giovanni Battista FALDA (1648-78). Palazzi di Roma de più celebri architetti. [Rome]: Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, [no date]. 2 parts in one volume, oblong 2° (372 x 461mm). Engraved title in each part, 103 plates, mostly after Ferrerio and Falda (first title creased, occasional light marginal spotting). Contemporary vellum, lettering-piece (lightly soiled, rubbed). Provenance: Richard Bateman (bookplate).

The first publication to provide systematic, measured and uniformly scaled illustrations of Roman palaces built between the 15th to the 17th century. By focusing exclusively on the palace, this book becomes a compendium of exempla, not only illustrating the houses of a very special city, but also establishing the typology of the residential palace. Divided into two parts, Ferrerio provided most illustrations for the first part and Falda for the second. Falda's architectural views contributed significantly to Rome's pre-eminence as a centre for this genre of print. 'Thieme-Becker (Vol. XI, p. 226) says the publication of part II was delayed by Ferrerio's death in 1654 but part I was issued in 1655. The British Museum (BM (I) 18, Fer 131) has a copy of this work, dated [1655] with 41 plates and without "Libro Primo" on the title page, which is probably the original issue. Part II by Falda was probably originally published between 1670, the date Camillo Massimi, to whom the work is dedicated was made a cardinal, and 1678, the date of Falda's death. Further evidence for this dating is found on pl. 38, an elevation of the Palazzo Altieri, which was not erected until 1670 by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi' (Fowler, p. 103). Berlin Katalog 2665; Brunet II, 1235; Cicognara 3719.