FALDA, Giovanni Battista (1648-1678), Giovanni Giacomo ROSSI (fl. 1650-1691), and Alessandro SPECCHI. Il Nuovo teatro delle fabriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna. Rome: Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi?, ca 1665? - 1739?.

3 parts in one volume, oblong folio, comprising parts III-V (of 5, lacking parts I and II) (257 x 415 mm). 3 engraved titles, 3 engraved dedication leaves, and 114 engraved plates, on laid paper with fleur-de-lys watermark, comprising: part III, 36 engraved plates; part IV, 50 engraved plates; part V, 28 engraved plates. (A few margins shaved just touching plate border or imprint.) Early 18th-century Italian half roan, marbled boards, spine gilt, morocco lettering-piece gilt.

Later edition, with plate numbers, of Falda's work, significant because "in Italy, up to this time, there had been no extensive and systematic attempt to record contemporary Renaissance architecture... Falda was an uneven artist [...] Nevertheless his work, aside from its historic value, is of special interest in showing the development in Italy of the realistic approach to architectural representation" (Fowler). According to Fowler, the "date of publication of the various books is difficult to establish...The plates were reissued time and again with little or no change except for the addition of plates numbers. All the copies examined vary slightly in the number and arrangement of the plates."

[Uniformly bound with:]

FALDA, Giovanni Battista (1648-1678). Le fontane di Roma nelle piazze e luoghi pubblici della citta. Rome: Giacomo de Rossi, [ca.1691].

4 parts in one volume, oblong folio (268 x 426 mm). 4 engraved frontispieces, 4 engraved dedication leaves, 99 engraved plates, on laid paper either with "Camera Apostolica" or fleur-de-lys watermark, comprising: part I, 33 engraved plates ; part II, 18 engraved plates; part III, 28 engraved plates (one folding); part IV, 28 engraved plates (one folding). (Captions to a few plates just shaved.)

Later edition, with plate numbers, of Falda's work, first published ca 1675-1685. "This collection of plates is the most charming that has ever appeared on the fountains of Rome and its environs...all copies examined vary in numbering and arrangement of plates" (Fowler). "The most sophisticated and elaborate collection of plates ever engraved on this subject" (Millard IV, p.132). Bruni and Evans, 4361; Cicognara 3863 (part I-III only); Fowler, pp. 97-99; RIBA 1014 (first edition); Berlin Kat. 3603-4.

Property from the Dorros Family Collection

FALDA, Giovanni Battista (1648-1678), Giovanni Giacomo ROSSI (fl. 1650-1691), and Alessandro SPECCHI. Il Nuovo teatro delle fabriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna. Rome: Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi?, ca 1665? - 1739?.