Quarter Calf. Marbled boards.
1794-1795 · Venezia
by Metastasio, Pietro
Venezia: Tipografia Pepoliana, 1794-1795. Quarter Calf. Marbled boards. . Very Good. 16mo. 11.5 by 7.5 cm. A vast compendium of Metastasio's poetic works excepting his lyric opera libretti. Not a few of the works contained herein, however, were intended to be accompanied by music, and many of these are dramatic works, short to long-ish, and with casts of characters -- essentially, one act operas, some with many scenes. These works, moreover, were some of his most popular works in their day. Among the works included are "La Contesa de' Numi", "Il Tempio dell'Eternita", "L'Asilo d'Amore", "Le Grazie Vendicate", "Il Sogno di Scipione", "Il Palladio Conservato", "Il Parnaso Accusato e Difeso", "La Pace fra la Virtu e la Belezza", "Astrea Placata", etc. etc. All the volumes contain the decorative bookplate of Alexander Speirs, who was a prominent Scottish politician in the early 19th century. Spine labels with number of volume only, missing label for volumes 1 and 12 (the latter has a slight remnant of the label. Boards with speckled marbled paper pastedowns. These have some darkening. The bindings otherwise with minor bumping here and there, and scattered scuffs. Nonetheless, the near-miniature set remains very attractive, and also very uncommon.
(Inventory #: 006156)