Theatre

88 - (Theatre) Francesco ALGAROTTI Essai sur l’opéra, traduit de l'Italien par M***. Pise, & se trouve a Paris, Ruault, 1773.

€ 500

First French edition, published posthumously. The translator was the Marquis De Chastellux. Francesco Algarotti (Venice 1712 - Pisa 1764), "a typical eighteenth-century literay figure and intellectual, occupies a position of indisputed importance among exponents of Illuminist culture in Italy. ... Algarotti also cultivated interests for musical theater, in which he participated firsthand by working on stage scenery; this is a recurring theme in many of his writings, especially in his Saggio sopra l'opera in musica (Essay on Opera in Music, 1755) published in Livorno and later expanded in Venice in 1763 ..." (Biggi). "Poeta, pittore e incisore, come letterato si occupò con acume brillante di ogni argomento (poesia, filosofia, filologia, arti figurative, fisica, economia, storia politica e militare, musica), componendo una figura che resta tipica dell'intelletuale del settecento. ... Il saggio reca anche, come modelli, un abbozzo di libr. italiano, Enea in Troja e un intero libr. francese, Iphigénie en Aulide (in prosa) e costituisce una delle più complete e coerenti prese di posizione in favore delle tendenze riformatrici dell'opera che stavano facendosi strada nel secolo e che trovarono il loro più compiuto realizzatore in Gluck. ... Notevoli sono anche anticipazioni wagneriane sull'architettura dei teatri ..." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). In the first part of this work Algarotti describes the subject of the opera, the music, singing, declamation, and dance; he also discusses the architectonical characteristics required in a operatic theatre. The second part includes a summary of the opera Énée a Troye and the full text of Iphigénie en Aulide, written directly in French by Algarotti. “Gehört zu den wichtigeren ästhetischen Veröffentlichungen des 18 Jh. ... mit Entschiedenheit wird hier eine Reform der Oper gefordert, wie sie sich bald bei Gluck vollenden sollte ." (MGG).

& Maria Ida Biggi (In: Gaetana Marrone, Paolo Puppa, Luca Somigli Encyclopedia of Italian literary studies, CRC Press, 2006) I, pp. 26-27; RISM B VI1, p. 80; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 317-319; MGG I, 319; Eitner I, 110; Fétis I, 68: Gregory-Bartlett I, 12.

89 - (Theatre) Francesco ANDREINI da Pistoia, Comico Geloso Le bravure del Capitano Spavento; divise in molti ragionamenti in forma di dialogo, Dedicate all'illustrissimo, & Eccellentissimo Signor, il Signor D. Amedeo di Savoia. Venezia, Giacomo Antonio Somasco, 1607.

€ 3000

First edition, it includes 55 dialogues. FrancescoAndreini (Pistoia about 1548 - Mantova 1624) was both actor and author; he "... played the part of an innamorato for many years before creating his personal version of the stock military captain. This was Capitano Spavento del Vall'Inferno, the most famous and successful commedia dell'arte captain, perhaps inspired by the Capitano Spavento of Parabosco's 1552 erudite comedy Il Pellegrino." (Katritzky). According to Ferrone the character of Capitano Spavento had some of Andreini's autobiographical features. Andreini married Isabella Canali (1562-1604), one of the most famous actresses of the time. They both played in the company of the Gelosi; they performed at the French court and travelled all over Europe. Isabella's death lead to Francesco' retirement and the dissolution of the Gelosi. These dialogues stage conversations between Il Capitano and his servant Trappola, and mirror the set pieces which were a part of Andreini’s performances. This was the first collection published not only by Andreini, but by an outstanding representative of the Commedia dell'Arte and is therefore invaluable to reconstruct its history. Interestingly for the history of music, Andreini mentions in his dedication the bagpipe he used when he played Corinto to Isabella's Fillide, which is also represented in the text-engraving, describing its feature and naming Bassano, the renowned maker of wind instruments, as its creator.

& Katritzky (The Art of Commedia: A study in the Commedia dell'Arte, 1560-1620 with special reference to the visual record. Rodopi, 2006) p. 214 and passim.; Siro Ferrone (Attori Mercanti Corsari La commedia dell'arte tra cinque e seicento. Torino, Einaudi, 1993) p. 21 and passim; http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Andreini.html; Clubb n. 64; Suzanne P. Michel & Paul-Henri Michel (Répertoire des ouvrages imprimés en langue Italienne au XVIIe siècle conservèes dans les Bibliothèques de France. Paris 1967) p. 47; Joseph Spencer Kennard (The Italian Theatre. New York, Bom, 1964) p. 165 and passim; Allacci 149; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 553-555 and V, col. 1020-1022 for the Compagnia de Gelosi; about the Gelosi cfr. also John Rudlin, Olly Crick (Commedia dell'arte: a handbook for troupes. Routledge, 2001) pp. 14-24; About Bérard's set see: http://www.artsvivants.ca/en/thf/histoire/concepteurs.html. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XVI

90 - (Theatre) F(rancesco) ANDREINI Ragionamenti fantastici di Francesco Andreini, di Pistoia comico Geloso, detto il Capitano spavento; posti in forma di dialoghi rappresentativi, dedicati all'illustrissimo Signor Giovani Querini nobile Veneziano. Nuovamente dati in luce Con licenza dde'superiori, & Privilegio. In Venezia, Appresso Giacom'Antonio Somasco, 1612.

€ 2000

Only edition. See also previous item in this catalogue.

& 2 copies in ICCU (Braidense-Milano e Uni Urbino);. Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 553-555 and V, col. 1020-1022 for the Compagnia de Gelosi; Michel & Michel I, 48.; Joseph Spencer Kennard (The Italian Theatre. New York, Bom, 1964) p. 165 and passim. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE X

91 - (Theatre) Isabella (CANALI) ANDREINI Fragmenti di alcune scritture della Signora Isabella Andreini Comica Gelosa & Accademica intenta, raccolti da Francesco Andreini comico Geloso detto il Capitano Spavento. Dati in luce da Flaminio Scala comico. In Torino,per gli Heredi di Gio. Domenico Tarino, 1621.

€ 1200

Third edition of the second part of the “Lettere”, appeared with an independent frontispice and often reprinted afterwards. Isabella Canali (Padova 1562 - Lyon 1604) one of the most famous actresses of the time, married Francesco Andreini. They both played in the company of the Gelosi; they performed at the French court and travelled all over Europe. Isabella's death lead to Francesco' retirement and the dissolution of the Gelosi. She seems to have been as highly regarded for her literary works as for her acting. Her death lead to Francesco' retirement and the dissolution of the Gelosi. The fragments in questions are nothing else than 31 dialogued “contrasts”, including some about love (the first part of the Lettere had been essentially dedicated to Isabella’s amorous correspondence) and others more Erasmian in nature, such as that of the physician and the lawyer, or on more literary matters.

& http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Andreini.html; About the Gelosi cfr. John Rudlin, Olly Crick (Commedia dell'arte: a handbook for troupes. Routledge, 2001) pp. 14-24; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 555-557 and V, col. 1020-1022 for the Compagnia de Gelosi; Joseph Spencer Kennard (The Italian Theatre. New York, Bom, 1964) p. 165 and passim. No copy of this edition in OCLC.

92 - (Music) Anon Etat actuel de la musique du Roi, et des trois spectacles de Paris. A Paris, chez Vente, Libraire, 1769.

€ 600

This series of almanacs began in 1767 and was continued until 1774 in 12mo size, afterwards in 16mo until 1778. For the first time this almanac was illustrated by engravings of musical subject; some of them were reproduced in later issues. Therefore this is the first printing of these nice illustrations, and show the art of Marillier as it was immediately before his first remarkable achievement, i. e. “Les bains de Diane” by Desfontaines, appeared the year after. The book is divided in several sections; the first contains an introduction by the editor, followed by an index and the calendar of the year 1769. A short tract on the effects of music opens the second section and is followed by the census of the noblemen in charge and of the personnel of the Royal orchestra. The third part describes the spectacles of the Opéra, followed by the composition of its staff; the fourth and fifth sections, with a corresponding census of their staff, are dedicated to the account of the spectacles of the French and Italian comedy. The sixth contains a bibliography of works appeared on music and theater, comprising i. a. old works as e.g. the works of Caroso and Tuccaro, appeared during the XVI century. The seventh and last part contains two enactments of the King in relation to the artists and the spectacles. Carteret: “... La collection de “L’Etat actuel de la musique” est non seulement difficile à rencontrer, mais la plupart des exemplaires isolés que l’on trouve sont incomplets des titres gravés et des planches au burin ...”.

& Carteret (Almanachs français) 396; Cohen-De Ricci 363-364.

93 - (Theatre, Architecture) Enea Arnaldi Idea di un teatro nelle principali sue parti simile a’ teatri antichi all’uso moderno accomodato ... In Vicenza 1762, appresso Antonio Veronese.

€ 2200

First edition, the editions 1733 cited by Cicognara are ghosts as Arnaldi was 17 in that year. Count Enea Arnaldi (1716-1794), born in Vicenza, was a renowned architect, who carried out the restoration of the Vicentine town hall, which had been erected by Palladio, and enriched his native town by a “Cavallerizza” (turf for horse races) in 1779. This book includes two different parts, the second of which is often absent due to its late insertion in the book. The first part concerns a project to rebuild the Teatro Filarmonico at Verona, erected by Francesco Galli Bibiena and recently destroyed. In it Arnaldi closely follows Vitruvius, with several innovations in the modern taste, as projecting the façades with porticoes. The second part discusses the manner to complete the ceiling of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza; in it Arnaldi discusses the original project of Palladio and makes known his predilection for a coffered ceiling. The engravings refer all to the first part and show the inner and the exterior of a theater built according to the project of Arnaldi.

& Cicognara 749-750 (erroneously dated, but the collation of the number 749 is identical to this edition); Wolffheim II, 909; Kat. Berl. 2790; Olschki 10726; not in Fowler.

94 - (Theatre) (Giovanni Antonio BIANCHI) De i vizi, e de i difetti del moderno teatro, e del modo di correggerli e di emendarli ... In Roma 1753, nella stamperia di Pallade, appresso Nicolò e Marco Pagliarini.

€ 1500

First edition, translated into Spanish in 1798. Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (Lucca 1686 – Roma 1758) was a minorite friar and a renowned theologian, who held the chair of theology at Bologna. Despite his position he also found way to compose eight dramas with the name of Lauriso Tragiense. This book was written as an answer to the inordinate attack of Daniele Concina, a Dominican priest, who had labeled the modern theater as immoral. Bianchi issued with this book the best defense of the staged drama, despite his conservative stance in regard of playwriting, that permitted him to remain faithful to the Tomist principles while disculpating modern dramaturgy. The book is in the form of a dialogue between an Italian nobleman and several friends of different ages. Among the treated subjects there is acting and musical drama. Bianchi defends the modern sacred drama as the direct heir of the ancient drama, assuming a position less radical than that of Scipione Maffei, who also issued a rejoinder to Concina in the same year. The structure of old theaters is discussed as a forerunner of the modern ones and an interesting comparison is drawn between architectural and musical styles.

& Cicognara 761; Kat. Berl. 2789; not in Cat. Reiss 58.

95 - (Theatre, Architecture) Gio(vanni) Ludovico BIANCONI Descrizione dei circhi, particolarmente di quello di Caracalla e dei giuochi in esso celebrati. Opera postuma del Consigliere Gio. Lodovico Bianconi ordinata e pubblicata con note dall'avvocato Carlo Fea e corredata di tavole in rame e della versione francese. In Roma, nella Stamperia Pagliarini, 1789.

€ 2000

First (only?) edition. The first of the two letters joint to the book, dated 26 of June, 1790 is signed by Carlo Fea, giving his agreement for the frontispiece to be used for a new edition of the book. The second letter, unsigned (most probably writtten by the same Fea), is a description of the present work, possibly meant as text for an advertising or an introduction. Loosely inserted a type-written note stating that, as agreed in the letter to the printer, the book was published with the following title-page: Descrizione dei circhi particolarmente di quello di Caracalla e dei giuochi in essi celebrati. Opera postuma del consigliere Giov. Ludovico Bianconi. ordinata e pubblicata con note e versione francese dall'avv. Carlo Fea e corredata di tavole in rame rettificate e compite su la faccia del luogo dall'architetto Angelo Uggeri milanese". Roma Pagliarini, 1789" (the date is obviously a mistake, as the letter is of June 1790); actually it seems that an edition with such a title was never published. Giovanni Ludovico Bianconi (1717-1781) acquired some fame as a physician and was nominated physician for the Elector of Saxony and later on Saxon ambassador in Rome. Less known is his activity as an archaeological dilettante; he had conceived even the project to collect his observations on all the monuments existing along the Appian way, which was interrupted by his death. This book on circuses is what remained of this ambitious project. It was published some years later by the Roman lawyer Carlo Fea, an amateur archaeologist himself, and illustrated with new engravings, cut by Angelo Uggeri (1754-1837), a Roman architect. The book is a complete study of the architectural features of the Roman circuses, as well as of the games held in them, as chariot races, naumachiae (naval fights), gladiator duels etc. Bianconi surmises the Etruscan origin of the circus games and discusses the religious ceremonies which were held in the circuses in correlation with the spectacles. Surprisingly very little attention is paid to circuses outside Rome; also the famous circus of Constantinople is only mentioned in passing with reference to a place in Constantine Porfirogenite. “Sonovi oltre a molte vignette allusive al testo venti gran tavole intagliate in rame. Opera accreditata e piena di dottrina” (Cicognara). Carlo Fea (2 February 1753 - 18 March 1836) was an Italian archaeologist. For an exhaustive biography see: www.biographybase.com. Angelo Uggeri (1754 - 1837) worked as an architect and studied in Milan with Albertolli.

& Cicognara 3619; Kissner 579; Brunet I, 848; Graesse I, p. 361; unknown to Kat. Berl. and Fowler; IT\ICCU\UBOE\004822; about Fea: http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Fea_Carlo.html; about Uggeri: Thieme/Becker 33, p. 540. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XVI

96 - (Theatre, Gesture language) Giovanni Bonifaccio L’arte dei cenni, con la quale formandosi favella visibile, si tratta della muta eloquenza, che non é altro che un facondo silenzio ... Vicenza, appresso Francesco Grossi, 1616.

€ 1800

Only edition of the first book dealing with the gesture language for deaf-mutes. The author, Giovanni Bonifaccio (1547-1635), a lawyer by profession, is especially remembered for his works on the history of Treviso and Padua. This is his only excursion in a subject different from his professional interests of law and history. The book is divided in two parts, dealing respectively with gestures made with every part of the body and with the use of signs in different activities, beginning with metaphysics, continuing with physics, music, geometry to end with medicine, navigation and wool manufacture, a typical Vicentine craftsmanship to this day. The origin of the present book is due, as stated by Bonifaccio in the foreword, his displeasure with the legal practice, which was based mainly on shouting and high-pitched rhetorics without a trace of calm and reasoning. At the roots of the book a derivation from physiognomics is recognizable; physiognomics, associating physical appearance with character, probably suggested Bonifaccio to associate defined gestures with corresponding actions. Possibly also a similarity with courtesy books in the line with Castiglione can be identified. The correlation made by Bonifaccio between gestures and action is mainly inspired by literary sources, especially the classic dramaturgy, where extensive use of gestures is made, but also Dante and the contemporary Italian literature. His treatment of the subject is quite general, covering gestures made with every part of the body and not omitting several references to obscene gestures. Beyond being of interest as the first attempt to form a gesture language useful for deaf-mutes the book is also very interesting to help reconstruct the theatrical practice of the late Renaissance.

& Riccardi I/1, 153; Vinciana 19; Garrison & Morton 3344; Krivatsy 1516; Norman 264; M. Cowling (The artist as anthropologist) pages 7-53; Tyrte (Physiognomy in the European novel) pages 38-46.

97 - (Theatre, Gymnastic) Giustiniano BORASSATTI (De ROSSI Gio. Batt.) Il gimnasta in pratica ed in teorica, dialogo tra i professori dell'Accademia Gimnastica de' gran saltatori di Parigi e di Londra, colla spiegazione di tutti i salti tanto antichi che moderni Rappresentati ne' più riguardevoli Teatri dell'Europa; ed ultimamente per intermezzo con l'Opera nel Carnevale del 1753 nel Teatro Giustiniano di S. Mosè di Venezia. Dedicato a sua eccellenza la sig. Duchessa di Bracciano &c. &c. nata principessa Corsini. In Venezia, no printer, 1753.

€ 2000

Only edition. Giustiniano Borassatti is the anagram of Giovanni Battista Rossi; the true name is used in the dedication to the Duchess of Bracciano. "Libretto singolare e pieno di notizie utilissime per rompersi il collo. In principio è il ritratto del Principe dell'Accademia de' saltatori Diego Secondo de' Rossi chiamato Didacus secundus de Rubeis ab Asti Gymnasicae academiae Principes Parisierum et Londini ex magnis cubistis." (Cicognara). "Il Gimnasta in practica [sic] is a discourse in dialogue form on gymnastics between notable exponents of the art such as Jean Restier (founder of the famous troupe Troupe de sauteurs et grands danseurs de corde de Restier), Pierre Dubrocq (the first to turn a somersault on the rope with lighted torches in his hands) and other members of the Paris and London Academies, and includes a description of the somersaults and leaps executed at Goodman's Fields. The book is very scarce. Of the Italian National libraries in Rome, Florence and Venice, only Rome possesses a copy of the first edition (...). The British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Bodleian do not possess a copy, and the only mention I can find of the work is in L. Cicognara's Catalogue ragionato dei libri d'arte e antichita (Pisa, 1821)." (Toole Stott).

& Cicognara 1559; Toole Stott II, 1660; ."; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 1432-1433 (sub saltatori); OCLC 257557956: "1 edition published in 1753 in Italian and held by 1 library worldwide". SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XV

98 - (Theatre) Niccolo CALLIACHI De ludis scenicis mimorum, & pantomimorum Syntagma Posthumum, quod e tenebris erutum recensuit, ac Praefatione auctum Petro Garzonio senatoriamplissimo dicavit Marcus Antonius Madero Venetae D. M. Bibliothecae Curator. Patavii, Typis Seminarii, Apud Joannem Manfrè. 1713.

€ 400

First edition. Niccolo Calliachi (Candia 1645 - Padova 1707), scholar and philosopher, studied the dance in classical antiquity. The De ludis scenicis is is most important work: "... trovata tra le sue carte incompiuta e pubblicata a Padova nel 1713 da Marco Antonio Maderò, bibliotecario della Marciana di Venezia: diligente raccolta ed elaborazione delle fonti classiche che trattano della danza greco-romana. ... P.J. Burette se ne giovò per la sua dissertazione  De la Danse des anciens." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). First edition. Calliachi, Niccolo (Candia 1645 - Padova 1707) scholar and philosopher, studied the dance in classical antiquity. The De ludis scenicis is is most important work: "... trovata tra le sue carte incompiuta e pubblicata a Padova nel 1713 da Marco Antonio Maderò, bibliotecario della Marciana di Venezia: diligente raccolta ed elaborazione delle fonti classiche che trattano della danza greco-romana. ... P.J. Burette se ne giovò per la sua dissertazione  De la Danse des anciens." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). Also interesting for the history of music, as Calliachi discusses the different instruments played by actors during the representations.

& Olschki, Choix 10806 "Opuscule intéressant pour l'histoire du théatre des anciens."; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) II, col. 1518; Cicognara 1610. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE X

99 - (Theatre) Martianus Capella Satyricon, in quo de nuptiis philologiae & Mercurii libri duo & de septem artibus liberalibus libri singulares. Leiden, Ex Officina Plantiniana apud Christophorum Raphelengium, 1599. (Bound with): Jules César Bulenger De theatro, ludisque scenicis libri duo. Editio prima. Troyes, P. Chevillot, 1603.

€ 2000

Ad 1. First edition of the first book by Grotius and one of the most esteemed old recensions of Martianus Capella. The errata quire is often lacking, as well as the two portraits of De Gheyn. These portraits were only added to some copies, mostly to those which were not destined to the use of the schools, and the errata quire was probably added after several copies had been already printed. Grotius (1583 -1645), the founder of the doctrine of natural law, was 13 when he began to work on this text and 15 when he completed his recension. The contribution of Scaliger, whose student Grotius was, is made evident in a laudatory poem preceding the text. The first edition of Capella was published in 1499 in Vicenza, with many others following it during the XVI century. Martianus Capella (Carthage, about 365 - 440) was probably a secondary school teacher or a rhetorician, and he appears to have pleaded cases as an advocate. The present book collects all the surviving writings of Capella. “Cast in the form of an allegory of a heavenly marriage, in which seven bridesmaid present a compendium of each of the liberal arts, this book became the foundation of the medieval curriculum of the trivium (books III-V) and the quadrivium (books VI-IX). The setting (I-II) became a model of heavenly journeys as late as Dante and contributed greatly to the popularity of the book. Martianus … was a key figure in the history of rhetorics, education and science for a thousand years ... Martianus’ quadrivium books … provide the best means of reconstructing the ancient Roman mathematical disciplines. Book VI .. pproves to be … a conspectus of terra cognita, reduced from the geographical books of Pliny the Elder’s … and … Solinus. Book VII was the second most important treatise on arithmetic after Boethius’ De institutione arithmetica ... Book VIII … is the best extant ancient Latin treatise on astronomy … Book IX, largely drawn from Aristides Quintilianus’ Perì mousikes … is important for its Latin definitions of musical terms that have long puzzled medieval musicologists. Next to Boethius, Marianus was the most important ancient Latin authority on music.” (DSB). “Buch IX … gliedert sich in vier Abschnitte, von denen der erste die Stellung der Musik in der Antiken Mythologie und zu den enzyklischen Disziplinen, der zweite die Wirkung der Musik auf die physische und psychische Natur der Menschen, der dritte die Definition und die Klassifikation der Musik und der vierte die eigentliche Theorie der Musik (Harmonik und Rhytmik) zur Gegenstand hat.” (MGG). Ad 2. First edition, reprinted in 1619, 1621 and 1699 in various convolutes, the last of which the work of Graevius. Jules César Bulenger (Loudun 1558 – Cahors 1628) became a Jesuit novice in 1582, but that same year he left the Company with the permission of his superiors, to become a professor in Paris, Toulouse and Pisa. Returned  to his order, he made a fame as a preacher. He wrote several books, some of which remained in manuscript, mostly on classical subjects. The present one is a thorough exposé on the ancient theaters, and on the spectacles staged there. Chapters are also dedicated to the scenic music of the Greeks and the Romans, with a full-page illustration dedicated to the Pythagorean system of music, and many sections concerning the instruments played, including hydraulic organs, and ancient dances. It constitutes therefore a complete albeit very synthetic sylloge of what was known on classical spectacles and music making at the beginning of the XVII century. The printer Chevillot, who was proclaimed “imprimeur du Roi”, was the most significant printer in Troyes between 1596 and 1622.

& Ad 1) Index Aureliensis 131.508; Adams C-586; STC Dutch page 46; Schweiger I, 62; Ter Meulen-Diermanse 411; DSB IX, pages 140-141; MGG II, 802; compare RISM B-VI, 548 (first edition). Ad 2) De Backer-Sommervogel II, 368. 9; Cicognara 787; Eitner II, 233: "enthält Abhandlungen über den theatralischen Gesang und die Musikinstrumente der Römer"; Wolffheim II, 914. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE IX

100 - (Theatre, Architecture) Lorenzo Capponi Pianta e spaccato del nuovo teatro di Bologna … In Bologna per Lelio della Volpe, 1771.

€ 2200

Only edition, reprinted in facsimile in 1973. Lorenzo Capponi (Bologna 1733 - ?) was an engraver active in his native town. This is his main claim to fame. A smaller publication with only two plates, signed by the architect Galli Bibiena, had seen the light in 1763. The theater of Bologna had been built between 1756 and 1763 by Antonio Galli Bibiena, a scion of the famous dynasty of architects. Galli Bibiena (Parma 1700 – Milan or Mantua 1773) collaborated with his uncle Ferdinando Maria in the construction of the Teatro Alibert in Roma and projected several theaters in Austria and Hungary. The theater of Bologna counts as his most ambitious project; built as an isolated edifice and with a circle-horseshoe shape following a pattern widespread during the first half of the XVIII century. However, defects in the acoustics of the theater were remarked immediately. In fact Galli Bibiena had relied, as his uncle, on the glittering grandeur of the building and its scenographies paying no attention to sound acoustical studies. “Antonio Bibiena … began the Teatro Comunale in Bologna in 1756 with a ground-plan almost identical with that of the Cuvilliès-theater in Munich and of stone and brick throughout. While this certainly made the building fire-resistant, and while the seats were nicely arranged for viewing the elaborate scenery favored by the architect, it was a disastrous acoustical misfit.” (D. Mullin). The plates are signed by the same Galli Bibiena and by Capponi as engraver and represent plans and views of the theater.

& D. Mullin, (The development of the playhouse, 1970) page 88; Kat. Berl. 2809; Cicognara 752 (in a convolute); Comolli III, 38-41.

101 - (Theatre, Biography) CARRER Vita di Carlo Goldoni. Venezia, G. Tasso, 1824/25.

€ 300

Luigi Carrer (1801-1850) was a poet in Venetian dialect as well as a writer on subjects of Venetian history. The present work is divided in 3 parts, the first dealing with the life of Carlo Goldoni and the following two with a detailed history of the Italian Comedy before Goldoni. Carrer states in the preface to the second part that his work was composed for the layman and not for the erudite; it abounds though in interesting informations and citations of plays, some of which have since fallen into oblivion. This work was written one year after the publication of the first translation of the autobiography of Goldoni (written originally in French); a selection of hitherto unpublished letters written by Goldoni is present as appendix of Volume I.

& Cicogna/Soranzo 3181; Della Torre (Saggio di una bibliografia delle opere intorno a C. Goldoni. Firenze, 1908) p. 58. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE X

102 - (Theatre) Giambattista CASTIGLIONE Sentimenti di S. Carlo Borromeo intorno agli spettacoli; A sua Altezza Reverendissima Monsignor Cristoforo de'Migazzi Arcivescovo di Vienna, e Principe del S. R. I. ec. In Bergamo, appresso Pietro Lancellotti, 1759.

€ 400

Only edition. “As cardinal archbishop of Milan from 1565 to 1584, Carlo Borromeo defined the emploi of the reforming Tridentine prelate.  … he was the first significant ecclesiastical authority to translate the antitheatrical prejudice into the early modern era. Although his attacks on secular and sacred performance created an awkward climate for professional players in Milan, even Borromeo's articulate and zealous criticism could not finally suppress theatrical activity. The archbishop's antitheatrical statements recurred throughout his archiepiscopacy, indicating that despite his protestations, theatre continued to find its audience. Even though his persistence could not overcome the popular theatre's ability to endure, Borromeo's antitheatrical writing did establish a way of seeing the theatre that would affect other religious writers in Italy and France. Essentially, Borromeo's objections to theatre's interaction with Christian society revolve around three general points that derive directly from the cardinal's commitment to Tridentine values: First, theatre disrupted social, and religious order; second, it undermined genuine religious activity; third, it sabotaged the 'Christianization' of society. In Borromeo's view, theatre tore at the social fabric; hence, he advised the civil magistrates to drive from their jurisdictions "actors, mimes, vagrants, and all other similarly 'lost' people" unless they agreed to establish permanent residency and resolved to "live honestly and comport themselves, in everything, as befits a Christian." Professional performers, because of their itinerancy, threatened society with instability. Since a wandering society remained an uncontrollable one, Borromeo insisted that the civil authorities, charged with the task of keeping social order, should police and censure the inns, "all filled with wickedness," that might give refuge to actors, mimes, and vagrants. The spettacoli disrupted the religious order envisioned by this Tridentine pastor by confusing, or even ignoring, the boundaries separating the sacred from the profane. And in this regard Borromeo quickly cast his wandering eye toward his own clergy. In a document concerning internal governance, for example, the cardinal archbishop forbids all members of the episcopal household to "carry arms...play cards, dice, ball, or other indecorous games of this kind, or attend the games of others." Neither are they permitted "to walk about masked, to participate in hunting parties, to attend theatrical performances, comedies, or any other impure activities of the professional actors." Since a reprimand must obviously have an object, Borromeo's diocesan clergy must have been every bit as involved in these profane activities as their lay brethren. With such involvement the clergy blurred the boundaries between the religious and secular worlds, thus sending mixed signals to those for whom they provided pastoral guidance.(27) In Borromeo's view theatricals, masquerades and the like spoke of a different world, a world not contained by the embrace of faith.” (Zampelli).

& M. A Zampelli (Trent revisited: an appraisal of early modern Catholicism’s relationships with the Commedia Italiana, The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol. I, no. 1, Fall 2002) pp. 120-130; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) III, 48. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE X

103 - (Theatre, Biography) Angelo COSTANTINI La vie de Scaramouche. Par le Sieur Angelo Constantini Comedien Ordinaire du Roi dans la Troupe Italienne, sous le nom de Mezetin. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1696.

€ 500

Second issue of the first edition; the first one was published in 1695. "La Vie de Scaramouche written by Angelo Costantini, is the story of famed Italian comedian Tiberio Fiorilli and was first printed in March, 1695. In this short life and times, dedicated to Son Altesse Royale, the author paints a colorful picture of the beloved court comedian. Costantini recreated the life of Fiorilli and his persona, Scaramouche, in this double biography of the man and the myth. These memoirs allow a glimpse into life at the court of Louis XIV. For example, chapter twenty-six describes what is needed to act out an Italian comedy. Besides the character types that must be present, one needs a yearly pension. Costantini offers numerous accounts of how Scaramouche was able to obtain more money than his contract allowed. Chapter twenty-eight provides a physical description of the man, making note of his body, its shape and agility, as well as his personality. Costantini also notes that the great Molière studied with Scaramouche and attributed the grace and grimaces of his own acting to the Italian actor." (Ali Mills). Costantini (Verona 1654-1729) was himself a famous actor in the Commedia dell'Arte, with which he made a success reciting with the "Troupe Italienne" in Paris at the Hôtel de Bourgogne from 1683 to 1697, interpreting especially the rôle of "Mezétin", an already existing mask to which he gave a new dress and a new expression.

& Ali Mills (In: http://www.dramatispersonaearchive.org/scaramouche.html); Raccolta. Rasi 336: "Raro" (edition 1695); Soleinne V, 753; Duchartre p. 170. Rasi (Comici italiani) p. 710 ff. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XV

104 - (Theatre, Architecture) Paolo DONATI Descrizione del Gran Teatro Farnesiano di Parma e notizie storiche sul medesimo, Parma, Dalla Stamperia Blanchon, 1817.

€ 1200

First edition. Paolo Donati (Parma 1770 - 1831) was theatre architect and teacher at the Royal Academy in Florence. This is his first work, and it was intended more for the learned traveller than for a specialist in architecture. The theatre, built by the architect Giovanni Battista Aleotti, was intended only for celebrations of the Farnese family. "Built 1617-1618 by Giovanni Battista Aleotti for Ranuccio II. Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, into the former armoury of the ducal residence. First European theatre with a permanent proscenium and the first theatre to be designed for movable scenery. Originally built for a festivity during a visit of Cosimo II. de' Medici in 1618 which was cancelled. Opened 21 December 1628 with Monteverdi's opera "Mercurio e Marte" during the festivities on the occasion of Ranuccio's son Odoardo and Margherita de' Medici. Subsequently used for court festivities like ambassadorial receptions, proclamations of state, and princely extravaganzas, as well as for theatrical performances of an immense variety: drama, opera, ballet, equestrian acts, and balls. The arena between stage and seating could be flooded and used for performances of naval battle scenes. After a festivity in October 1732 the theatre was left to decay. Completely destroyed by bombs in 1944, except the entrance portal. Rebuilt from 1952, but not to the original colours. Hence, the originally intended effect of a trompe l'oeuil open-air theatre could not be achieved again. Occasionally used for drama performances and concerts. Ca. 3000 seats." (www.andreas-praefcke.de). An exhaustive history and description (with several illustrations) of the theatre is given in Ricci.

& DBI XLI, pp. 53-55; Macmillian Encyclopedia of Architects, vol. I, p. 62; Berlin Kat. 2816; Lozzi 3359; not in Millard Italian, Fowler, Vagnetti and Comolli; Giuliana Ricci (Teatri d'Italia, Milano, Bramante Editrice, 1971) pp. 105-112 (this work is cited on p. 112 among the bibliography); http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/italy/i_parma_teatrofarnese.htm

105 - (Theatre, Gesture language) Giovanni Giacomo ENGEL Lettere intorno alla mimica di G.G. Engel. Versione dal tedesco. Aggiuntovi i capitoli sei sull'arte rappresentativa di L. Riccoboni, Milano, Giovanni Pirotta, 1818 - 1819.

€ 1000

First Italian edition. The Dell'arte rappresentativa by Riccoboni, was first published in 1728. See also the previous item in this catalogue.

& Laterza (Dizionario enciclopedico della letteratura italiana, Bari - Roma, Laterza - Unedi, 1966 - 1970) IV pp. 510-511; cfr. Silvio D'Amico (Storia del Teatro Drammatico. Milano, Garzanti, 1968) III pag. 29; Olscki Choix n. 10918; Courville (Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio. Paris 1943) n. 75 and 76 (for the first two editions of Riccoboni's work). SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE VIII

106 - (Theatre, Gesture language) (Johann Jacob) ENGEL Sur le geste et l’action théâtrale; suivies d'une lettre, du même auteur, sur la peinture musicale. Le tout traduit de l'Allemand. A Paris, chez Barrois, A Strasbourg, A la librairie Académique, A La Haye, chez Van Cleef, 1788.

€ 1200

First French edition, first published in German 1785 under the title Ideen zu einer Mimik. Engel (1741-1802) was a German philosopher. "... l’analyse sémiotique du geste sera pour Engel l’occasion de dégager deux notions singulièrement opératoires: «peinture» et «expression» (Malerei, Ausdruck) qui seront transposables dans une sémiotique esthétique générale. En effet, elles permettent à Engel est de dégager analogies fortes entre musique, poétique, gestuel, pour s’acheminer vers une sémiotique comparée dont la perspective est entièrement neuve." (Coulombeau). Johann Jacob Engel (Parchim 1741 - Berlin 1802) was a writer, playwriter and theatre director. He studied philosophy and theology in Rostock and Bützow and, as teacher in Berlin, had Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt and the future Wilhelm III as pupils. "... non intende dare una trattazione sistematica dell'arte dell'attore ma, forte del suo alto modello ..., abbozza una sua teoria della recitazione che in parte si fonda sulla lezione di alcuni grandi attori Garrick, Fr. L. Schröder, ma soprattutto Ekhof, che già Lessing aveva utilizzato come fondamentale materiale d'osservazione." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). Engel researches the principles according to which passions are expressed on the actor’s physionomy and by gestures. The second tome comprises several short essays on theater, signed i. a. by Lessing and Klopstock.

& Charlotte Coulombeau (Langue et „langage du geste“: la sémiotique théâtrale comme sémiotique comparée dans la Mimik de Johann Jakob Engel (1785). In: Methodos, 6 (2006), Science et littérature on-line http://methodos.revues.org/document562.html#entrees); Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) IV, col. 1488-1490; Lipperheide Uce2. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XV

107 - (Theatre) F. FICORONI Le maschere sceniche e le figure comiche d'antichi romani. Roma, De Rossi, 1736.

€ 1300

First edition. Ficoroni (1664-1747), archaeologist born in Lugano, lived for many years in Rome; he contributed some important works in his field, among which this one was one of the most successful, being reprinted and translated into Latin. It is considered as a fundamental work on ancient theatre. Ficoroni was also the discoverer (and the forger, as it became evident a few years ago) of the first epigraph in archaic Latin, found on a vessel called "Cista Ficoronii" in his (undeserved) honour. This book contains the descriptions of all masks of Roman origin known to the author, originating from gems, architectural ornaments, lamps and other objects.

& Brunet II, 1245: "Ouvrage important et estimé"; Cicognara 1652: "Opera che in questa materia può ritenersi per la più classica di quante l'hanno preceduta e seguitata ..."; Olschki Choix 10939; not in Kat. Orn. Berlin and Kissner Coll. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XV

108 - (Theatre) Giovan Battista GELLI La Circe, nuovamenta accresciuta e riformata. In Fiorenza, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550.

€ 1000

Second edition, to be preferred to the first one (appeared in 1549) due to an improved and corrected text. Gelli (Firenze 1498-1563), scholar and playwriter, exercised the profession of shoemaker. "Ottima prova dette di sé ne Capricci del Bottaio ... e nella Circe, dieci dialoghi che celebrano la filosofia liberatrice dell'uomo dai vincoli della sensualità." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). The work is divided in 10 dialogues, starting from the transformation of Ulysses’s companions into animals by the sorceress Kirke. Among them only the one who had been transformed into an elephant consents to revert to humanhood. He had studied in fact phylosophy before joining Ulysses. The other animals prefer to remain in their present forms. The moral is that only philosophy permit to escape sensuality and to accept life serenely. Gelli exposes some heterodox ideas on the immortality of the soul in the second dialogue, what procured the work to be put on the Index in its uncensored form.

& Gamba 492: “Rara edizione …”; STC Italian, p. 293; Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 553-555; Paul Colilli (Metamorfosi e conoscenza: I dialoghi e le commedia di Giovan Battista Gelli 1952); not in Clubb. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE IX

109 - (Theatre) (Evarista GHERARDI) Le theatre italien ou le recueil de toutes les scènes françoises qui ont esté joüées sur le theatre italien de l'Hôtel de Bourgogne. A Geneve (Lyon), chez Jacques Dentand, 1695.

€ 1500

Second edition of Gherardi's collection of plays, reprint of the first one. "The Commedia dell'Arte had a great influence in France, and the company which settled in Paris produced what was a virtually separate genre, the Comédie-Italienne. Through successive French playwrights, particularly Molière and Marivaux, many of the features of the commedia dell'arte became naturalized and passed into French literary drama" (Oxford companion to the theatre).Gherardi (1663-1700) made his fame as one of the most famous Harlekins. As an author he collected the complete texts of the comedies recited at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris from 1682 to 1697, when the Italian comedians were evicted due to a satyre on Mme de Maintenon (La Fausse prude by Lenoble). In his introduction Gherardi draws the attention of the reader on the high improvisative nature of the comedies staged, which made their disappearance certain if they had not been collected in volume. Gherard’s company came back to Paris en 1716, after his death, but they met a bitter surprise as they discovered that the time of the Harlequinades had passed and that they could no longer count on their onetime audience. See also the Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo for a thorough description of the many editions of this work and a description of the events of the first one in particular. See also the next item.

& Sansoni (Ed.) (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 553-555; Oxford companion to the theatre, p. 145.

110 - (Theatre) Evarista GHERARDI Le theatre Italien, ou recueil general de toutes les comédies & scenes Françoises jouées par le Comediens Italiens du Roi pendant tous les temps qu'ils ont été au service. Enrichi d'estampes en taille douce à la tête de chaque comedie, & des airs gravés-notés à la fin de chaque volume. Ais, chez Briasson, 1741.

€ 2200

The first edition was published anonimously in 1694 in Paris. According to the Enciclopedia dello spettacolo this is the XVIIIth ed., the VIth reprint of the first complete edition of 1700. The present edition comprises 55 comedies by different authors (Regnard, Barante, Boisfran, Delosme de Montchenay, du Fresnoy, Lenoble, Mongin et Palaprat). Evaristo Gherardi (Prato 1663 - Paris 1700), famous as Harlequin, "made a collection of forty or so scenarios in the Italian style, interspersed with text written by a dozen French authors. Each piece was a patchwork of French and Italian, and the Lazzi, cascate,and set speeches inherited from the commedia dell'arte were combined with dialogue and repartee essentially French." (Duchartre). As an author he collected the complete texts of the comedies recited at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris from 1682 to 1697 ,when the Italian comedians were evicted due to a satyre on Mme de Maintenon (La Fausse prude by Lenoble). In his introduction Gherardi draws the attention of the reader on the high improvisative nature of the comedies staged, which made their disappearance certain if they had not been collected in volume. Gherardi’s company came back to Paris en 1716, after his death, but they met a bitter surprise as they discovered that the time of the Harlequinades had passed and that they could no longer count on their onetime audience. See also the previous item in this catalogue.

& Pierre Louis Duchartre, Randolph T. Weaver (The Italian Comedy: The Improvisation, Scenarios, Lives, Attributes, Portraits, and Masks of the Illustrious Characters of the Commedia Dell'arte. Courier Dover Publications, 1966) p. 102; Oxford companion to the theatre, page 145; Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) I, col. 553-555; Cohen 436-437; Brunet n. 16546 (this ed. 1741); Cat. Scheurleer II, 425 (1721 ed.); Graesse III, 76, knows three eds. only: 1695, 1698 et 1741; Lewin page 211; Boissais-Deleplanque p.85 (1721 ed.); Oxford companion to the theatre, p. 145.

111 - (Theatre, Architecture) Felice Giorgi Descrizione istorica del teatro di Tor di Nona … In Roma 1795, nelle stampe del Cannetti.

€ 1600

First edition. Felice Giorgi was a famous architect in Papal service, who restored i. a. the Borrominian church of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza. He performed the final reconstruction of the theater of Tor di Nona, the most famous Roman Baroque playhouse. Built in 1666 by Carlo Fontana by order of Queen Christina of Sweden, it underwent several interventions until 1781, when it was destroyed by fire. Rebuilt in 1784-1785 by Carlo Tarquini, it was significantly modified in 1795 by Giorgi and took the name Teatro Apollo. Giorgi provides in the present book the architectural history of the theater with plans of every constructive phase and two plans illustrating the modifications brought forth by himself. “The form selected for the shape of the auditorium altered from the simple U popular in the XVIIth century to the shape of an egg. In such plans the geometry of the auditorium was related to that of the stage scene. Examples may be seen in plans of the Teatro di Tor di Nona after 1671, in which the extreme side boxes of the house are arranged to follow the same line as the diminishing perspective of the scene. The illusion of distance was accomplished by having each succeeding pair of wings placed a little further onstage, and by having the stage floor raked up from front to back …” (Mullin).

& D. Mullin (The development of the playhouse, 1970) page 56); Cicognara 758; Kat. Berl. 2814; Schudt 1158.

112 - (Theatre) Arthur HEULHARD La foire Saint-Laurent. Son histoire & ses spectacles. Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1878.

€ 250

Only edition. Arthur Heulhard (1849 – 1920) made himself a name with several tracts on the history of Paris and some anti-Christian writings. "Cette foire Saint-Laurent se tenait dans l'enclos Saint-Laurent qui était situé au nord de la rue Saint-Laurent, de la rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis à la rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin, entre l'église Saint-Laurent et l'actuelle Gare de Paris-Est. C'est devenu le nom officiel du 10e arrondissement en raison du rôle important que cette foire a joué dans le développement du quartier. Établie dès 1344 dans l'enceinte de l'abbaye des frères de Saint-Lazare (léproserie de Saint-Ladre), la foire Saint-Laurent fut fixée, au XVIIIe siècle, du 9 août (veille de la saint Lazare) au 29 septembre (jour de la saint Michel). La foire Saint-Laurent était le rendez-vous des artisans, des commerçants et des bourgeois, et se déroulait en plein air, tandis que la foire Saint-Germain, abritée des intempéries, servait plutôt de vitrine au commerce de luxe (bijoux, porcelaine, instruments de musique, estampes). De nombreux artistes et troupes de la foire Saint-Germain s'y produisent aussi, puisque l'une a lieu au printemps et l'autre en été. Cette alternance permet au public de suivre ses spectacles préférés et, peu à peu, s'installe une sorte de véritable « feuilleton » théâtral, une pièce étant commencée à Saint-Germain pour être continuée à Saint-Laurent." (http://vieux-paris).

& Marius Barroux (Essai de bibliographie critique des généralités de l'histoire de Paris. Paris, 1908 - Reprint 1967) n. 352; http://vieux-paris.blogspot.com/2008_11_02_archive.html. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE VIII AND XVI

113 - (Theatre, Dance) François H. S. De L'AULNAYE De la saltation théatrale ou recherches sur l'Origine, les Progrès, & les effets de la Pantomime chez les anciens, avec neuf planches colorièes. Dissertation qui a remportè le Prix double à l’Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres en Novembre 1789. A Paris, chez Barrois l'aîné, Libraire, Quai des Augustins, n. 19, 1790.

€ 1500

Only edition. François H. S. De L’Aulnaye (Madrid 1739 – Paris 1830) was a writer on different subjects and a musician. He became one of the first associates of the Musée de Paris and little later its secretary. Later on he collaborated to the edition of the complete works of Rousseau, whose biography he later compiled. This work, which won a prize in 1789, still counts as his best production. This book is a complete history of dance in antiquity, with special attention given to the pantomime as practiced in the Roman theatre. “A number of XVIIIth-century works on aesthetics contained extensive discussions of ballet ... Substantial works on dance history were also written during the XVIIIth century ... Later the theme was extended in F. De L’Aulnaye’s ‘De la saltation théatrale’ which dealt with the pantomime of ancient Rome.” (Cohen). The book is divided in two large section, the first of which deals with the different sorts of dance in the Classical antiquity, with some details on the history of the dance among different other peoples, including the American Indians. Attention is also given to the masques and other paraphernalia used in the pantomime and other types of theatrical dance, and to the attitudes of the different Roman emperors toward dance. The second part comprises the notes to the text, with several passages of writers ranging from the classical to the Renaissance authors.

& RISM B-VI(1) p. 484; S. J. Cohen (Founding Editor) (International Encyclopedia of Dance), Vol. 3 p. 84; Indice Biogràfico de España, Portugal e Iberoamérica, 3^e ediciòn, vol 2 p. 360; Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana (J. Espesa é Hijos Editors), vol VI p. 1041; Derra de Moroda n. 1610; Lipperheide Uca5; Magriel p. 180; not in Leslie. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE VI

114 - (Theatre) Népomucène L. LEMERCIER La Panhypocrisiade, ou le spectacle infernal du seixième siècle. Comèdie épique. A Paris, de l'imprimerie de Firmin Didot, 1819.

€ 300

First edition. Louis-Jean-Népomucène Lemercier (Paris 1771 - 1840) was a French playwriter. "Scrittore fecondo, bizzarro e contraddittorio, anticipò per un aspetto della sua multiforme prod. dramm., le innovazioni del tetro romantico, pur dichiarandosi ostile alla nuova scuola." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). The Panhypocrisiade (about all hipocrisies), a poem inspired by Agrippa d'Aubigné, repercurring the wars of religion of the XVI century, is one of the last works written by Lemercier. The poem was received disparagingly by several critics such as Nodier, and even Hugo defined it later as a chymera. A curious letter to Dante Alighieri opens the book.

& Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VI, col. 1373.

115 - (Theatre) (De Léris) Dictionnaire portatif des Thèatres, contenant l'origine des différens Thèatres de Paris, le nom de toutes les Pièces qui y ont étè répresentées depuis leur établissement, & des Pièces jouées en Province, ou qui ont simplement paru par la voie de l'impression depuis plus de trois siècles; avec des Anecdotes et des remarques ... Paris, Jombert, 1754.

€ 250

First edition, reprinted in 1763 in enlarged form and with the name of the author. The publication of the present dictionary, apparently decided for 1749, was delayed for unknown reasons. The author acknowledges to have been inspired by the Bibliothéque des Théatres, appeared in 1732, but adds to have corrected several faults of this previous work and to have contributed much information gained from other sources. The work is divided in two parts; in the first part contains all the ballets, plays and theatrical pieces  known to the author in alphabetical order. The discussion of each item is detailed and information is also supplied on the editions of the different works cited. The second part contains qa chronology of the playwrights who have been mentioned in the book, together with short biographic aacounts of the different authors, musicians and actors concerned. Both Voltaire and Rousseau are mentioned in this second part, the first as playwright and the second as writer on musical questions.

& Cioranescu 39459; Eitner VI, 145; Fétis V, 279; RISM BVI, page 499.

116 - (Theatre, Architecture) Justi LIPSI De anphitheatro liber. In quo forma ipsa Loci expressa, & ratio spectandi. Cum aeneis figuris. Antverpiae, apud Christophorum Plantinum 1585. Bound with The Same Leges Regiae et leges X.Virales. Lugduni Batavorum, ex offcina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium, 1589.

€ 700

Second edition of both works. As described in Fowler, it contains one more plate with respect to the 1st ed. (Les Arenes a Dove en Pictou. Lavinus fecit an 1584). Lipsius (1547-1606) was professor in Louvain and Leiden. Thorough description of Roman anfitheatres.

& Ad1: Fowler p. 154; Ruelens & De Backer p. 266 n. 19 (1st ed. 1584) Ad2: Ruelens & De Backer p. 173 n. 14 (1st ed. 1576). SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XI

117 - (Theatre, Fencing) I. LIPSI Saturnalium sermonum libri duo. Qui de gladiatoribus. Editio ultima, auctior & ornatior. In qua quid distincte praestium sit, pagina altera docebit. Lugduni Batavorum, ex officina Plantiniana, Apud Franciscum Raphelengium 1588. Bound with: The Same De anphitheatro liber. In quo forma ipsa Loci expressa, & ratio spectandi. Cum aeneis figuris. Antverpiae, apud Christophorum Plantinum 1585.

€ 1300

Lipsius (1547-1606) was professor in Louvain and Leiden. This work, in the form of a dialogue, is a study of Roman gladiators. It is mentioned in the bibliographies on fencing: "La présence de cet ouvrage est expliqué dans cette bibliographie par le côté fantaisiste, mais intéressant, des actions d'épée que présentent les planches, et par l'historique du rôle et des costumes des gladiateurs dans l'ancienne Rome." (Vigeant). For the second work, see the previous item in this catalogue.

& Bibl. Belgica I,L510; Ruelens & De Backer p. 282 n. 23; Adams I, p. 641, n. 807; Vigeant pp. 84-85; Timm p. 167. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XII

118 - (Theatre, Architecture) Victor Louis Salle de spectacle de Bordeaux. Aux dépens de l’auteur, et se trouve à Paris, chez Esprit, libraire, au Palais-Royal, 1782.

€ 8000

Only edition, printed at the expense of the author. Victor (properly Louis-Nicolas) Louis (1731 – 1800) gained the Prix de Rome after seven attempts and was made a resident architect at the French Academy in Rome from 1756 to 1759. Beyond several other buildings, he built several theaters in Paris, i. a. at the Palais-Royal and at Place Louvois, and in Bordeaux. Those in Paris burned during the XIX century, thus only the theater in Bordeaux survives. This is the oldest wooden frame opera house in Europe which has not required substantial adulteration or extensive restorations. The construction of the theater lasted from 1773 to 1780. The importance of the design of Louis for the Bordeaux theater was immediately understood and it was copied in France and abroad. “A revolutionary playhouse design … Louis‘s playhouse certainly was grand, and was designed with some unusual architectural features. The accepted style of Italian opera house design was based upon succeeding tiers of columns, each supporting the ones above and the beams for the gallery floors. The columns also dictated the locations for the box divisions, so to keep the post as small as possible the divisions were numerous and the boxes consequently small. At Bordeaux Louis supported the galleries with fewer and heavier posts in a monumental order reaching from pit to cornice. The columns were tied together by horizontal beams at each gallery level, and the gallery fronts were cantilevered out beyond the line of columns. This made the individual boxes more commodious and gave a monumental appearance to the house chamber. The top gallery seats were placed between the pendentives of the domed ceiling, with a post-free view. The house plan was based upon a circle, one quarter truncated at the line of the orchestra pit. The weight of the ceiling pendentives was borne on four columns, one at either side of the apron and two in the back of the house … Louis’s plan was … the first to incorporate in one design a large number of of the new ideas about effective large-scale playhouse construction. This grand and magnificently appointed playhouse was designed with the idea of providing every comfort and convenience ...” (Mullin). “The Grand Théatre at Bordeaux is his masterpiece and a  significant influence in XIX century theater architecture. The elegant great staircase and vestibule were models for Charles Garnier’s Opéra. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium became an exemplar for many XIX century auditoriums and the giant Corinthian colonnade running the full length of the façade was also influential … This well-produced folio is dedicated to the Duc de Richelieu, who was associated with the project … The discours préliminaire, which gives a history of the construction of the theater, was written for the education of the young architects. Its defense of the cost of the project and its many anecdotes concerning progress of the building are interesting reading.” (Millard). The plates, designed by the same Louis with two exceptions, provide plans of all levels, side and front elevations, sections, interior views, a perspective view of the theater with the surrounding buildings, a bird’s eye view onto the roof, a location map and a comparison plate with other theaters throughout Europe.

& D. Mullin (The development of the playhouse, 1970) pages 97-98 and passim; Millard French 108; Kat. Berl 2812; RIBA 1966; H. and P. Guadet (Les salles de spectacle construites par Victor Louis à Bordeaux, au Palais-Royal and à la place Louvois. Paris, Librairie de Construction moderne, 1903) passim.

119 - (Theatre) (Scipione MAFFEI) Dei teatri antichi e moderni trattato … Seconda edizione. In Verona, presso Agostino Carattoni, 1754.

€ 400

Second edition or, more precisely, second issue of the first edition, which had appeared in Verona the previous year, later collected in the complete works of 1790. Marquis Scipione Maffei (Verona 1675 –1755) was a polymath who composed significant works in different domains, as architecture and archeology (Verona illustrata and Museum Veronense), paleography (Istoria diplomatica) and physics (Sulla formazione dei fulmini). He attempted a reform of the Italian theater by replacing tragedies in verse in the Racine style with prosa. He also recalled to life the Italian repertory of the XVI and XVII centuries, in collaboration with the company Balletti-Riccoboni. His tragedy “Merope” was illustrative of his new style and was admired by readers so different as Lessing and Voltaire. He authored also volumes on the architecture of ancient theaters and amphiteaters, who probably served as an inspiration for Enea Arnaldi when he wrote his book on the neo-classical theater architecture. This book is a rejoinder for his old enemy, the Dominican friar Daniele Concina (1686-1756), who had attacked him already some years earlier when Maffei’s mercantilistic treatise “Dell’impiego del danaro” appeared in print, and again in 1749 when the book by Tartarotti on witchcraft had appeared. Concina maintained that modern theater, such as the “Merope”, was contrary to Christian doctrine and was therefore to be abolished, and, if possible, no acting should have been permitted. Maffei answers with a defense of his own playwriting, citing Voltaire about “Merope” as extenuating evidence, clarifies that Christian doctrine has never forbidden theater, and declares the social usefulness of theater. He also describes the reconstruction of the theater of Verona, sketched by Galli Bibiena, and discusses several aspects of the theatrical praxis in the ancient times as compared with the present one.

& Cicognara 763; Cat. Reiss 58, no. 169; compare Eitner VI, 272 (first edition).

120 - (Theatre, Architecture) Scipione MAFFEI Galliae antiquitates quaedam selectae atque in plures epistulas distributae. Ad Parisinum exemplar iterum editae. Accedunt epistulae duae Altera Sorbonicorum Doctorum ad Auctores hujus operis Altera March. Joannis Polenii de Olympico theatro. Veronae per Jacobum Vallarsium 1734.

€ 800

Second and best edition, enriched by two letters, the first written by some professor of Sorbonne and regarding the conclusions reached by Maffei during his French tour, the other written by Giovanni Poleni on the architecture of the Olympic Theater in Vicenza, a masterwork of Palladio. Marquis Scipione Maffei (Verona 1675 - 1755) was one of the last polymaths; he wrote on archeology, science, architecture, history and authored one of the best Italian plays of the XVIII century. This book draws its origins from a series of observations made by Maffei in France, where he stayed from 1732 to 1736. The interest of the book is twofold; Maffei discloses and interprets several recently discovered inscriptions, both in Latin and Greek, thus providing a meaningful contribution to the archeology of France. However, the book is extremely valuable as an exposition of the researches carried out by Maffei on the manner old theaters and amphiteaters were built. The discussion of Maffei does not only concern the constructivistic features of the buildings; on the contrary his ideas exerted an impact on the opinions of Venetian architects on the best manner to reproduce the ancient theaters in the modern world. It is not far-fetched to see this book, alongside the tract on amphiteathers written by the same author, as one of the main sources for the treatise of Arnaldi, appeared in 1762, which fixed the rules of neo-classical theatre construction in Italy.

& Cicognara 4035: “L’edizione di Parigi contiene molte memorie di meno, e questa è da preferirsi ...”; not in Fowler and Kat. Berl. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIV

121 - (Theatre, Public festivals) Claude François MENESTRIER Traité des tournois, ioustes, carrousels et autres spectacles publics. A Lyon, chez Jacques Muguet, 1669.

€ 3500

First edition of this early work on the staging of public festivals, reprinted in 1674. Many forms of spectacles, such as tourneys, jousts, carrousels, circuses fireworks, military displays, ballets etc are exhaustively described. A chapter is devoted to stage machinenery. Claude-François Menestrier (Lyon 1631 - Paris 1705), a Jesuit, wrote several works on various subjects. "The bibliography of Menestrier' works is so considerable that it disconcerts bibliophiles." (Catholic Encyclopedia). "A la suite du traitè des tournois, on retrouve sous le titre: La Dispute des Lys ou couronnement de la Reine des Alpes, le Dessein de la course à cheval et le Triomphe des vertues. Il ya deux tirages de cet ouvrage, sur papier de format et de qualitè differents; les vignettes et les lettres ornèes ne sont pas toujours les mêmes non plus." (De Backer-Sommervogel). ”Cet ouvrage contient la description détaillée de diverses sortes de jeux et de spectacles publics, mais une partie importante est consacrée aux carrousels et fêtes hippiques et un chapitre spécial traite des chevaux qui peuvent servir aux carrousels” (Menessier de la Lance). "Ménestrier's [treatise] is still imbued with the thought processes of the renaissance. He opens his book by tracing the origins of tournaments back to antiquity in which such spectacles combined the rites of religion with military exercise and learned allusions. He goes on to discuss Roman circuses and combats and the symbolic nature of such tournaments, above all the choreographed carrousel in witch the movements of the horses and riders echoes the courses of the heavens." (Strong).

& De Backer Sommer V, col. 905-945, n. 58; Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7883); Derra De Moroda 1817: “One of the scarcest book by Menestrier”; Lipperheide Tb 12; RISM B-VI, page 570; Menessier de la Lance II, pages 186-187; Strong, (Art and Power. Renaissance festivals, 1459 -1650, Boydell Press) p. 56; Ruggieri 140. Tchémerzine (Livres a fig.) p. 338. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XI

122 - (Theatre, Chess) Joannes MEURSIUS De ludis graecorum Liber singularis. Ad V. CL. Petrum Scriverium. Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Isaacum Elzevirium, Academiae Typographum. Anno 1622. Bound with: Daniel Souterus Flandro-Britanni Palamedes sive de tabula lusoria, alea, et variis ludis, libri tres. Quorum I, Philologicus; II Historicus; III Ethicus seu Moralis. Lugduni Batavorum Ex officina Isaaci Elzeviri Academia Typographi 1622.

€ 1000

First edition of both works, published separately; in the following editions the title-page of Souterus' work was replaced with a sectorial title and the two works were published together. The first work studies the games of the ancient Greeks, the second one describes classical board games. Jan Van Meurs, called Johannes Meursius (1579-1639) was professor of history and Greek at the university of Leiden. Daniël de Souter (Daniël Souterius) (London 1571 - Haarlem 1634) "descended from a Flemish family but worked in several countries as a clergyman. Like every writer in his time, he took it for granted that the board games of the classics lived on in his days. In part I chapter 20 Souter described the game of draughts under the heading Dame, Belgis dammen: Atque hic ludus nihil, aut parum distabat à nostro, quem vocamus Dominarum ioco, qui ramen triginta tantum calculis luditur: quindecim albis, et quindecim rubeis (And this [ancient] game hardly differed, or only a little, from ours, that we call the game of dames, but our game is played with not more than 30 pieces, 15 white and 15 dark red ones). The variety played in Haarlem, a city not far from Amsterdam, was played on a chequered board: Tabula (...) lusoria quadraturis discoloribus alternatim positis distincta est (The gaming board is divided into alternate squares of different colour)." (http://www.draughtshistory.nl). "En 1622 apareció en la ciudad de Lyon el libro de Daniel Souterus, "Palamedes ...". El propósito de Souterus, como se desprende del extenso título de su libro, era analizar los aspectos filológicos, históricos y ético-morales de los juegos. Cada libro está dedicado en particular a uno de estos tres aspectos y entre uno de los temas que aborda el autor se halla el problema del origen del ajedrez. Más allá de su indudable valor bibliográfico, este libro contiene una serie de apreciaciones valiosísimas que nos dan alguna pauta de cómo fue evolucionando la pesquisa historiográfica en torno del problema del ajedrez y cómo se llegó a las teorías anteriormente expuestas, que son en la actualidad las reconocidas como más probablemente válidas. Aunque no llegó al término chaturanga, curiosamente Souterus estuvo muy cerca de conocerlo, y se detuvo en una de las primeras corrupciones de esta voz, que es la que produjeron los persas. Vale decir que dejó abierta una línea para la investigación posterior, aprovechada luego por otros eruditos e investigadores. Con todo, las apreciaciones de Souterus, uno de los últimos representantes de la visión renacentista del mundo, no se pueden desprender todavía de la idea de que toda creación del espíritu debe tener un origen clásico, esto es, grecolatino. Por eso él mismo nos dice "vuelvo a los latrunculi" -"ad latrunculos revertor"-, un juego practicado por los romanos. La visión basada en la tradición clásica, y los problemas que se plantea resolver, de carácter teológico, histórico y moral, obedecen a ese concepto." (Gómez).

& Willems n. 203 and n. 207; Rahir n. 170 and n. 176; Van der Linde n. 1751 and n. 2988; http://www.draughtshistory.nl/polish08.htm; Gabriel Mario Gómez (Historia del Ajedrez. Buenos Aires, Planeta, 1998); http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/la_reserve/expos/jeu/savoirs.htm

123 - (Theatre, Architecture) (Francesco MILIZIA) Del Teatro. Venezia, Giambattista Pasquali, 1773.

€ 2200

Second edition; the first one, published in 1771 was suppressed by the papal censors and a new edition allowed only after heavy amendments. Both 1771 and 1773 editions were published anonimously. A general history of the theatre (origins, discording opinions about the theatre and how to reconcile them, object, poetry etc.) is given; i the following chapters the different kind of genres (tragedy, comedy, opera ... ) are discussed, a long chapter is dedicated to the music and in the last part decoration and architecture are described. For a detailed biography of Milizia see O'Neal. Very interesting the provenance of this copy, fom the library of Edward Gordon Craig (16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966); sometimes known as Gordon Craig, he was an English modernist theatre practitioner and he worked as an actor, producer, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings.

& Cicognara, 765; Kat Berlin 2793; Sclosser Magnino (La letteratura artistica. Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1986) p. 683; Olschki, Choix, 11127 (a copy of the extremely rare 1st edition); William B. O'Neal (Francesco Milizia 1725-1798 In: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 13, No. 3, Oct. 1954) pp. 12-15; http://www.edward-gordon-craig.com. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIII AND XVI

124 - (Theatre, Architecture) PATTE Essai sur l'architecture théatrale ou de l'Ordonnance la plus avasntageuse à une salle despectacle, relativement aux prinipes de l'optique e de l'acoustique. Avec un Examen des principaux Théatres de l'Europe, & une Analyse des écrits les plus importants sur cette matere. Paris, Moutard, 1782.

€ 1500

First edition. Interesting work about theatre architecture where the author not only gives direcions for an ideal theatre, but also describes some of the principal exhisting playhouses (Berlin, Manheim, Bordeaux, Ancien Theatre de l'opera de Paris, Bologna, Milan, Naples, etc.). "The text contains general remarks on theatres, and more detailed descriptions of the European theatres shown on the plates, The first plate was engraved by N. Rausounette." (Fowler).

& Fowler p. 201; Kat. Berlin 2795; RIBA 2463; Cicognara, 771: "Opera assai ben concepita, è da tenersi fra le migliori di questo genere". SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIII

125 - (Theatre, Architecture, Acoustics) Pierre PATTE, Giulio FERRARIO and Paolo LANDRIANI Storia e descrizione de’ principali teatri antichi e moderni corredata di tavole col saggio di Mr. Patte illustrato con erudite oservazioni del chiarissimo architetto e pittore scenico Paolo Landriani. Per cura del dottore Giulio Ferrario. Milano, dalla tipografia del Dottor Giulio Ferrario, 1830.

€ 2000

First Italian edition. This work is mainly based on the ‘Essai sur l’Architecture Théatrale, ou de l’ordonnance la plus advantageuse à une salle de spectacle, relativement aux principes de l’optique, et de l’acoustique. …’ by Pierre Patte, originally published in Paris in 1782. The complete translation of Patte’s essay takes pages 87 – 255, the other chapters of this book are instead original contributions, mainly by Paolo Landriani (Milan 1755 – Milan 1839), a theatre architect and decorator in Milan. The work by Patte originated when Louis XV, wishing to build a theatre at Versailles, sent him to Italy to study theatres which could be possibly used as models. In his essay Patte “comments upon 12 theatres, including the Teatro Regio Ducale of Milan, which burned down in February 1776. … Patte criticises each plan in some detail, … An Italian translation appeared in Giulio Ferrario’s ‘Storia e descrizione de’principali teatri antichi e moderni …’ (Milano, 1830). The translation is followed by ‘Osservazione dell’Architetto … Signor Paolo Landriani su l’imp. R. Teatro allla Scala in Milano e sopra alcuni articoli del Saggio di M. Patte’ on pages 257-291.” (R.I.B.A. 2463). The contribution by Ferrario is mainly the introduction, where he gives some information about the history of theatre in general and about some theatre in particular. He discusses also theatrical events as inscenated in other cultures, as for instance Chinese theater, illustrated by Plate 1. The present edition, despite its important additions, seems to be less known than the French original. The R.I.B.A. catalogue only describes it at length and acknowledges the importance of the new additions: “Altough the translation of Pierre Patte‘s Essay sur l’architecture théatrale occupies a central place in this work, the essays by Ferrario, Robustiano Gironi and most importantly Paolo Landriani, add considerably to its size and scope. Much of the new material is on theatres built after Patte’s essy appeared, on stage settings and scenery.”. The plates, only 3 in Patte’s work, are here 12. The first one is a beautiful sepia-printed aquatinta engraving signed V. Raineri and depicting Chinese players (copied from an edition of Sir Staunton’s ‘An authentic account of the Earl of Macartney’s embassy from the king of Grat Britain to the Emperor of China’); the third one, signed Castellini, is an aquatint interior view of an imaginary ancient Greek odeon; the other ones are more architectonical in kind and depict plans and elevations of different theatres. They are a representation of several theaters changed or demolished afterwards, and thus constitute an important historical document. These illustrations mirror faithfully the changes in theatrical architecture which had taken place between the appearance of the French original and its Italian modification. In particular the differences between the French and the Italian models consisted in the fact that in the French model the first boxes did not take the whole vertical wall, but only its lower orders, the plan of the scene is less broad and less space is dedicated to non-theatrical functions. These changes reflect the change happened in the nature of theater, from a commodity for the rich and noble to commodity for the all people.

& R.I.B.A. n. 1055; G. Ricci (Teatri d’Italia, Bramante editrice, Milan 1971) pages 194-196 and passim; compare Thieme-Becker XXII, 301-302 (Landriani); compare R.I.B.A. n. 2463, Cicognara 771 and Fowler 243 for the French original.

126 - (Theatre, Architecture) Auguste PELET Essai sur les amphithéâtres et en particulier sur celui de Capoue. Nimes, de l’Imprimerie de Baldy et Roger, no date.

€ 100

Only edition. Auguste Pelet was a local erudite in Nîmes, who authored a number of works on the antiquities of his native town and elsewhere. This work concerns essentially the amphiteathers found outside France and especially the large one in Capua near Naples.

& FRBNF38714700. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIII

127 - (Theatre, Typography, Bodoni) Alessandro PEPOLI Adelinda. Tragedia. Dalla reale tipografia parmense 1791. Bound with: The Same Agamennone. Tragedia. Venezia, della tipografia Pepoliana, 1794.

€ 500

Both only editions. Alessandro Pepoli (1747 -1796) acquired some fame as a playwright and a rival of Alfieri. The "Adelinda" is introduced by a letter of count Ranieri de Calsabigi to the author and a dedication to the memory of Teresa Ventura Venier. The second book is an interesting imitation of the Bodoni typography, but immediately recognizable.

& Brooks 427 (first work); G. Justice (Un competitore di Vittorio Alfieri, Alessandro Pepoli. Genova, Carlini, 1906) passim. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XVI

128 - (Theatre) PLAUTO Comediæ viginti nuper recognitae et acri iudicio Nicolai Angelii diligentissime excusae. Colophon: Florentiae per heredes Philippi Iuntae Florentini, anno à christiana salute D.XXII supra mille (1522) mense Martij.

€ 650

A good edition of Plautus, containing several notes and ethymologies by Simon Charpentier, the editor of Lyon’s Plautus of 1513, which were missing in the first Giunta edition of 1514.

& Dibdin p. 307; Renouard (Supplément) XLVII n.66; Camerini (Annali dei Giunta) 177. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIV

129 - (Theatre, Gesture language) Vincenzo REQUENO Scoperta della chironomia ossia dell'arte di gestire con le mani. Parma, Fratelli Gozzi, 1797.

€ 1600

First edition of this curious work about the art of communicate with the hands. The Spanish Vicente Requeno y Vives (1743-1811), a former Jesuit who lived in Italy since 1757, was known to his contemporaries as "el restaurador de las ciencias perdidas" (the restorer of the lost sciences), as he tried to resuscitate the harmonic system of the Greeks and the Romans, as well as the encaustic technique in painting. The work is divided in two sections, dealing respectively with the use of hands for calculus in antiquity, and with their use in the classical Greek theater and in the mime. Requeno suggests also different methods to use gesticulation in the modern theater. Among his precursors Requeno cites Beda the Venerable (De loquela per gestum digitorum), and adopts the latter’s arguments that the Greek alphabet can be easier for the use of the deaf-mute.

& De Backer-Sommervogel VI, 1670-72; Cicognara 194; Guyot & Guyot page 404. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XV

130 - (Theatre) François RICCOBONI L'art du théatre, à Madame ***. A Paris, chez C.F. Simon, Fils & Giffart, Fils, 1750.

€ 1000

First edition. Antoine-FrançcoisValentin Ricccoboni, Lelio fils (Mantova 1707 - Paris 1772) was the son of Luigi Riccoboni and Elena Balletti. "il suo nome resta soprattutto legato all'Art du théâtre (1750), dove intese dare forma pratica alle teorie formulate da suo padre. Pur predicando come lui il culto della naturalezza, A.-F. definiva i limiti della sincerità e della sensibilità dell'attore, il quale non può esprimersi con efficacia se non nell'assoluta padronanza dei propri mezzi. La controversia avviata su quesro problema tra Lelio padre e Lelio figlio diede origine al dibattito immortalato da Diderot col Paradoxe sur le comédien." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo).

& Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 943-945.

131 - (Theatre) Francesco RICCOBONI L'arte del teatro alla signora N.N. Dissertazione tradotta in italiano. Venezia, Bartolomeo Occhi. 1762. Bound with: ANON Lettere sopra la nuova commedia che contengono la storia critica di correnti giudici sopra la medesima, e le regole principali per giudicare con fondamento scritti e umiliate ad una dama. Venezia, Pietro Valvasense, a spese dell'autore, 1755.

€ 1000

First Italian edition, translated from the first edition, published in 1760 in French. First edition of the second work.

& Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 943-945.

132 - (Theatre) Louis RICCOBONI De la réformation du théâtre. No place, no printer, 1743.

€ 1500

First edition. "Col trattato De la réformation du théâtre (Parigi, 1743) Lelio intendeva fornire una sintesi teorica definitiva ..." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). See also the previous items in this catalogue.

& Xavier de Courville (Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio. Paris 1943) n. 85; Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 940-943. About Bérard' set see: http://www.artsvivants.ca/en/thf/histoire/concepteurs.html. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XVI (EX LIBRIS)

133 - (Theatre) Louis RICCOBONI Histoire du theatre Italien, depuis la décadence de la Comédie Latine; avec un Catalogue desd Tragedies & Comedies Italiennes imprimées depuis l'an 1500 jusqu'à l'an 1660 & une Dissertation sur la Tragedie moderne. A Paris, chez André Cailleau, 1730. Bound with The Same Dell'arte rappresentativa capitoli sei. Londra 1728.

€ 5000

Second edition, first published in 1728. First edition of the second work. Luigi Andrea Riccoboni or Lelio (Modena 1676 - Paris 1753), player, reformer, historian, was the author of several important primary sources on the so-called "Italian comedy" and the prevailing acting methods in the first third of the Eighteenth Century. With his wife Elena Balletti Flaminia founded the company di Lelio e Flaminia. They worked in Italy and France where Marivaux, a. o. wrote several plays for them. "Un contributo prezioso è invece quello che diede alla storia del teatro. L'Histoire du Thêatre italien ... intrapresa allo scopo di riabilitare il teatro letterario del suo paese, affronta anche il problema delle origini e dello sviluppo dell'arte comica popolare e costituisce, per quanto riguarda le maschere, i dialetti, il repertorio, una fonte ancora preziosa per qualsiasi studioso della commedia dell'Arte." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, also for an exhaustive history of the Riccoboni family).

& http://www.wayneturney.20m.com/Riccoboniluigi.htm; Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 940-943; Olschki, Choix 11336 (for the 1st work); Xavier de Courville (Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio. Paris 1943) n. 72 (1st ed. of Histoire) and n.75 (for the 2nd work). About Bérard' set see: http://www.artsvivants.ca/en/thf/histoire/concepteurs.html. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XIV AND XVI

134 - (Theatre) Louis RICCOBONI Observations sur la comédie et sur le génie de Molière. A Paris, chez la Veuve Pissot, 1736.

€ 600

First edition. "Le Observations sur la comédie et sur le génie de Molière (Parigi 1736) abbondano di tesi astratte e confuse, ma hanno il merito di riflettere il punto di vista dell'uomo di teatro e di sostenere l'argomentazione teorica con frequenti esempi tratti da Molière; le pagine dedicate a Molière imitatore hanno costituito il punto di partenza di numerose ricerche succesive, mentre resta vivo, nell'insieme dell'opera, il sentimento di ammirazione di Lelio verso il commediografo francese." (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo). See also the previous item in this catalogue.

& Xavier de Courville (Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio. Paris 1943) n. 78; Sansoni (Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, Casa editrice Le Maschere, Roma 1954) VIII, col. 940-943. About Bérard' set see: http://www.artsvivants.ca/en/thf/histoire/concepteurs.html.

135 - (Theatre) Maurice SAND Masques et Bouffons (Comèdie Italienne) Texte et dessins par Maurice Sand gravures par A. Manceau. Preface par George Sand. Tome Premier (-Second). Paris, Michel Lévy Freres, 1860.

€ 2500

First edition, first issue. The plates are found printed in black, in red or in colours. There was a second edition in 1862. Among the plates (signed by the same Maurice Sand) there are some representing professions which were often chosen as a satyric target, as the pharmacist, the notary and the singer. The others represent the Italian masks made famous throughout the world by the “Commedia dell’Arte”. Maurice Sand (Paris 1823 – Nohant 1889), son of the famous writer George Sand, was a writer of some renown in the Paris of the Second Empire Maurice Sand, as well as a painter and an architect. This book is his most famous work. It has a remarkable value for the history of theatre; the nice illustrations bear witness of his pictorial talent; he had in fact been a pupil of Delacroix and was in demand both as a painter and as a delicate caricaturist. "fils de George Sand, il se fit, à côté de la grande réputation de sa mère, une certaine notorieté comme litérateur. Il publia à la Revue des Deux Mondes quelques romans et nouvelles, et écrivit un ouvrage important sur les types d'acteurs et de mimes de la comédie italienne, Masques et Buffons: il fut illustrateur et exposa quelques tableaux."(Carteret).

& Carteret II, 321 and III, 549. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE VI

136 - (Theatre, Archeology, Architecture) (Simone Stratico) Dell’antico teatro di Padova. In Padova, nella Stamperia del Seminario, 1795.

€ 1300

Only edition. Simone Stratico (Zara 1730 – Padova 1824) was a mathematician and an expert on nautical matters. He was associated to the University of Padua and supervised several hydraulic works. The project to reclaim habitable land from a marshy surface within the town of Padua was started in 1775 by Andrea Memmo, a Venetian nobleman, and remained partly unfinished. Stratico, when in charge of the works, discovered the remnants of the old Roman theater, which could keep up to 7000 spectators. After the fall of the Roman empire the theater had fallen into ruins, being largely demolished during the XVI century in order to gather building materials for the church of Santa Giustina and the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The outcome of the project was the Prato Della Valle, one of the largest and nicest piazzas of Europe, surrounded by two circles of statues representing illustre Patavines. The project was due to the architect Domenico Cerato. In this book Stratico describes the conditions of the ruins and discusses their possible use, possibly restoring the old building. In the following sections he compares the audience of old theatres with that of the modern ones, issues a criticism on the tract written by the British author Sander “On theatre” and concludes with a concise history of modern theatrical architecture.

& Cicognara 800: Lozzi 3271; not in Kat. Berl.

137 - (Theatre) TALMA Études sur l'art théatral suivies d'anecdotes inédites sur Talma et de la correspondance de Ducis avec cet artiste, depuis 1792, jusqu'en 1815; par Madame veuve Talma, née Vanhove. A Paris, chez Henri Feret, 1836.

€ 200

First edition. Mme Talma, born Caroline Vanhove, first madame Petit, after madame Talma, was an actress of the Comédie Fran. She was born in The Hague around 1770 and married François Joseph Talma (Paris 1763 -1826), one of the foremost actors of period, in 1802. Talma was endowed with the physical gifts permitting him to excel in the highest tragedy, an admirably proportioned figure, an imposing countenance, and a voice of great beauty and power, which, after he had conquered a certain thickness of utterance, enabled him to acquire a matchless elocution . At first somewhat stilted and monotonous in his manner, he became by perfection of art a model of simplicity .

& Quérard (La France littéraire) IX, 333.

138 - (Theatre) P. TERENTII AFRI Comœdiæ ex recensione Danielis Heinsii collata ad antiquissimos MSS. codices Bibliothecae Vaticanae cum variationibus lectionibus larvis et personis depromptis ex eisdem codicibus et italica versione. Recensuit, notasque antiquam artem comicam, et nonnulla antiquitatum romanarum monumenta illustrantes addidit Carolus Coquelines. Tomus I (- II). Romae, impensis Nicolai Roisechii (colophon: ex typographia Zempeliana) 1767.

€ 1500

Second edition of the translation by Niccolò Forteguerri (1674 - 1735), first published in 1736. "These are sumptuous edistions, especially the latter. The author of the Italian version is Nic. Fortiguerra. It contains the text of D. Heinsius (edit. 1635) and is ornamented with many plates, representing figures of the "Dramatis personae" from an ancient MS in the Vatican. The second edition contains some additional notes of Coquelinus, and is illustrated with plates of ancient monuments of Roman antiquity." (Dibdin).

& Dibdin (4th ed.) II, 475. Brunet V 723. Graesse VII 61. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE XII

139 - (Theatre) P. TERENTIUS Comoediae sex, tum ex Donati commentarijs, tum ex optimorum, praefertim veterum, exemplarium collatione, diligentius quam unquam antehac, emendatar. Aelii Donati Antiquissimi et celeberrimi grammatici in easdem, quicunque extant, commentarij, ex veteri codice manu descripto, graecis etiam repositis, accurate castigati. Calphurnii in tertiam comoediam doctissima interpretatio. Eorum, quae in commentarijs sparsim anotata sunt, index amplissimus. Parisiis, ex officina Roberti Stephani, 1529.

€ 2000

"According to Harles, [this edition] is the rarest, and in great request" (Dibdin). A new recension of the commentaries of Donatus, and the lengthy index make this a particularly valuable edition of a a work which became a 16th-century bestseller: numerous editions, a number by Estienne, were to appear throughout the following decades. "Robert fut aidée par un ancien et bon manuscrit du Commentaire de Donat ... A l'aide de ce mème manuscrit Robert réussit. non sans beaucoup de peine, à rétablir dans son édition les passages grecs laissés en blanc dans les éditions antérieures, et qui dans ce manuscrit étoient oblitérés au point d'être presque indéchiffrables." (Renouard). This edition is one of the very last to be printed with the old roma types of Henri's printing house. (Renouard).

& Dibdin (4th ed.) II, 470; (see Schreiber, pp. 51-53). Adams T322; BM STC French S. 416; Dibdin II, p.470; Renouard I, p.30, no.16; Schweiger p. 1057; compare Schreiber 39 for the 8vo. ed.

140 - (Theatre, Emblemata) Otho VAENIUS Q. Horati Flacci Emblemata. Imaginibus in as incisis, Notis ab illustrata. Antverpiae, ex officina Hieronimy Verdussen, Auctoris ere & cura, 1607.

€ 1300

First edition of one of the first and most famous emblem books. Otto Vaenius, or Otto Van Veen (Leiden 1556 - Bruxelles 1629) was been Rubens' teacher. The plate on page 39 (voluptatum usurae, morbi, et miseriae) is a very early representation of masks of the Italian Comedy.

& Landwehr Dutch 240; Landwehr, Low Countries, 678; Olschki, choix 11479; Brunet V, 1025. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE IX

141 - (Theatre, Indian mithology) H. H. WILSON, A. LANGLOIS Chefs d'oeuvres du Théatre Indien, traduit de l'original sanscrit en anglais, par M. H. H. Wilson, et de l'Anglais en Français par M. A. Langlois. Tome premier - Second. Paris, Librairie orientale de Dondey-Dupré père et fils. 1828.

€ 500

First French edition. Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860), an Orientalist, was born in London. He studied medicine and went to India as a surgeon and eventually became professor in Oxford. In the last 90 pages is given an thorough description, alphabetically ordered, of all characters of the Indian mythology.

& Montgomery Schuyler jr. AM (A bibliography of the Sanskrit Drama with an introductory sketch of the dramatic literature in India. New York, The Columbia University Press, 1906) p. 23; Jean Seznec (In: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Published by The Warburg Institute, Vol. 4, No. 3/4 (Apr., 1941 - Jul., 1942, pp. 142-150) p. 144; About Wilson cfr. Reverend James Wood (The Nuttall Encyclopædia, 1907). SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE IX