Les Aventures de Joseph Pignata Echappe des Prisons de l'Inquisition de Rome

Cologne: Piere Marteau, 1725. First Edition.. contemp. three quarter vellum over bds... A good copy; somewhat browned.. 8vo.

The true first of one of the popular first person prison narratives of the 18th century. Pignata was arrested and held for trial. He spent two years in confinement before coming to trial and then was condemned to life in prison. He was an artist and musician; two skills that helped obtain the tools of his escape. Together with another prisoner he tunneled through the ceiling of his cell and in 1693 was able to flee. He made his way to Venice and then Austria and on to Amsterdam. Several editions of the narrative appeared in rapid succession. The book was a hit in Germany where annotated versions in French and Italian were used to teach the language. An edition of 1768 marks the point where the narrative is conflated with another story and from that point is a fictional tale ( one of these later version was trans. and printed in America in 1801). Arthur Symonds translated the book into English in 1930 and the 1725 first edition offered here was also a part of the Library Company of Philadelphia holdings in the 18th century. Caillet # 8680; see Klopp, Memoirs and Letters ....; Conlon, Le Siecle des Lumieres, 23 : 617.