Roisecco - Roma Antica, e Moderna - 1745

THE GREAT ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO THE ETERNAL CITY – WITH 22 PLATES, VIEWS AND FOLDED MAPS
Important first edition of the famous Ancient and Modern Rome by Gregorio Roisecco, one of the most interesting illustrated historical-topographical guides devoted to the Eternal City in the 18th century. Published in Rome in 1745, the work guides the reader through churches, basilicas, palaces, squares, fountains, monuments, ruins and archaeological testimonies, continually comparing the magnificence of ancient Rome with the papal capital of the eighteenth century. More than a simple travel guide, the book constitutes a true urban encyclopedia of the city, where history, archaeology, art, architecture and devotion intertwine in a richly information-filled description. Particularly significant is the iconographic apparatus, in this copy composed of 2 figurative frontispieces and 22 plates including geographical maps and engraved views, many of them folded, as well as numerous numismatic and antiquarian engravings in the text. Among the most fascinating images is the grand perspective view of St. Peter’s Square, with the Vatican Basilica, the Bernini Colonnade and the obelisk.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST EDITION – ROME 1745! One of the great illustrated guides to the Eternal City in the full eighteenth century.
THE ROME OF THE GRAND TOUR! Monuments, churches, squares, ruins and antiquities told to the European traveler of the eighteenth century.
22 PLATES AND VIEWS! Folded maps, figurative frontispieces and a spectacular depiction of St. Peter’s Square.
TWO VOLUMES IN COEVAL PARCHMENT! Elegant uniform set with gold titles and refined green edges.

MARKET VALUE
The present copy preserves the two main volumes devoted to the city description, together with 2 figurative frontispieces and 22 plates among geographical maps and views, many folded, as well as a pleasant uniform contemporary binding in full parchment. The absence of the third supplement volume has little effect on the overall valuation, and leaves intact much of the topographical and view-related interest of the work. For this specific copy a realistic retail value is in the range of €800-1,300.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
2 volumes. Rome, 1745. First edition. Present are 2 figurative frontispieces and 22 plates among geographical maps and engraved views, mostly folded, in addition to numerous numismatic, antiquarian and decorative engravings in the text. Particularly evocative is the grand perspective view of St. Peter’s Square with the Vatican Basilica, the Bernini Colonnade, and the central obelisk. Elegant uniform contemporary binding in full parchment, with titles and volume numbering impressed in gold within dumbbell-shaped cartouches to smooth spines; green edges. Parchment with natural waviness, small stains, abrasions and normal signs of use. Internals generally well preserved, with clear paper and sharp impression; occasional browning, foxing, halos and time traces. Folded plates may have folds, small tears or marginal defects. The third supplement volume is missing. As with all old volumes, there may be slight defects or restorations not expressly mentioned.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Gregorio Roisecco.
Roma antica, e moderna o sia nuova descrizione della moderna città di Roma, e di tutti gli edifizi notabili, che sono in essa, e delle cose più celebri, che erano nella antica Roma.
Rome, 1745.
FIRST EDITION.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Gregorio Roisecco is best known as the author and compiler of this vast historical-topographical description of Rome, conceived in the first half of the 18th century to organize and make accessible to a wider public the city’s enormous monumental, archaeological and religious heritage. His work belongs to the long tradition of Roman guides that, developed from the Renaissance, reached particular richness in the eighteenth century thanks to the growing presence of travelers, antiquarians, artists and scholars from all over Europe. Roisecco gathered materials of historical, artistic, archaeological and religious character in a structure designed to accompany the reader through the city in a concrete way. The testimonies of classical Rome are continually compared with the urban transformations of the papal capital, offering a layered reading of the city. His Roma antica, e moderna also attests to the increasing importance of the illustrated guide as a cultural instrument of the Grand Tour: not merely a practical inventory of monuments to visit, but a true introduction to the history and identity of the Eternal City.

RARITY
The first Roman edition of 1745 holds a significant place in the vast eighteenth-century production devoted to the topography of the papal capital. It preserves the two main volumes, i.e., those most directly dedicated to the topographical, artistic and monumental description of Rome. Noteworthy especially is the presence of the extensive figurative apparatus, with 2 frontispieces and 22 plates, many folded, an element particularly important in eighteenth-century guides since views and maps were often separated from the volumes over the centuries. The preservation of the two volumes in elegant contemporary parchment uniform binding with gold titles and green edges further enhances the collectible charm of the copy.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
Roma antica, e moderna belongs to the great cultural season in which Rome became one of the indispensable destinations of the European Grand Tour. Aristocrats, artists, architects, antiquarians and men of letters came to the city to confront firsthand the vestiges of classical antiquity and the great achievements of the Renaissance and the Baroque. Guides like Roisecco’s played a fundamental role: they provided the traveler with a key to reading the city, allowing him to recognize monuments, reconstruct their history, and understand the relationship between the ancient imperial capital and the modern papal Rome. The plates and views possess today a particular documentary value because they reproduce the city’s appearance in the first half of the eighteenth century, before the major urban transformations of the following centuries. The work thus constitutes a significant source for the history of Roman topography, architecture, archaeology, antiquarian collecting, and eighteenth-century travel culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gregorio Roisecco, Roma antica, e moderna o sia nuova descrizione della moderna città di Roma, Rome, 1745.
Ludwig Schudt, Le guide di Roma. Materialien zu einer Geschichte der römischen Topographie.
Leopoldo Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità.
Repertori bibliografici dedicati alle guide di Roma, alla topografia romana e alla letteratura del Grand Tour.
Cataloghi storici e antiquari relativi alle descrizioni illustrate di Roma del XVIII secolo.