Bellini - Dell’Antica Lira Ferrarese - 1754

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LA LIRA MARCHESANA DI FERRARA: PRIMA E UNICA EDIZIONE DEL 1754 CON IL RARISSIMO COMPENDIO
Importante opera settecentesca di Vincenzo Bellini dedicata alla “lira marchesana”, moneta ideale utilizzata per secoli nell’economia ferrarese. Prima e unica edizione, pubblicata a Ferrara nel 1754 e fondata su quasi trent’anni di ricerche documentarie e d’archivio. Il volume è illustrato da numerose raffigurazioni numismatiche, con 84 xilografie di monete inserite nel testo. Legato insieme al rarissimo Compendio pubblicato da Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi nel 1820, concepito come complemento e strumento di consultazione dell’opera di Bellini. Un insieme particolarmente interessante per la storia della numismatica, dell’economia e della monetazione medievale e rinascimentale italiana.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION – First and only edition of Bellini’s work, Ferrara 1754, one of the classic texts of 18th-century Ferrarese numismatics.
84 COIN ILLUSTRATIONS – Rich iconographic apparatus with 84 woodcuts depicting coins, integrated directly into the historical and documentary treatment.
RARE 1820 COMPENDIUM – The volume is augmented by the rare Compendio by Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi, Bellini’s pupil and collaborator and his successor in the Ferrarese museum milieu; by the end of the 19th century it was already described as an “extremely rare” booklet.
HISTORY OF MONEY AND ECONOMY – Pioneering study reconstructing the value and circulation of the marchesana lira through archival documents, contracts, prices, royal coins and the economic events of the Ferrarese territory.

MARKET VALUE
This copy also features an uncommon element: Bertoldi’s 1820 Compendio bound together with the main work. Considering its completeness, overall freshness, rich monetary apparatus, and the presence of the rare 19th-century supplement, a retail valuation of €450–650 seems appropriate.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Modern mid-grey cardboard binding with light corners and spine. Two works bound in one volume. Frontispiece printed in red and black with an engraved frieze. Dedication to Count Bartolomeo Masi and to the Savi of the Maestrato of Ferrara. Numerous running heads, ornamental initials, and 84 coin engravings within the text. Some natural aging foxing, especially in the second part; signs of time and occasional manuscript notes in the Compendio. In ancient books, with a long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visuals. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp.: (2); 10; 208; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Dell’antica lira ferrarese.
In Ferrara, 1754. Printed at Ferrara by Bernardino Pomatelli, Archiepiscopal Printer.
Vincenzo Bellini.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The “lira marchesana” should not be understood simply as a single physical coin, but as a monetary unit of account used in the Ferrarese territory over the centuries. Bellini reconstructed its evolution through extensive archival documentation, comparing coins, nominal values, prices, and public acts. Treccani regards the work as a remarkable example of historical description of an ideal coin, conducted through the course of its circulation and based on the systematic examination of every available document. The work thus gains an interest that goes beyond mere numismatics: it allows observation of the concrete functioning of money in society, in contracts, payments, legal relationships and fluctuations in the value of goods. According to 19th-century testimonies, the work gained such authority that it was used to resolve legal questions relating to the Ferrara territory. Bertoldi recalled that Bellini’s research was the result of almost thirty years of work on codes and parchments. The 1820 Compendium significantly completes the whole: Bertoldi synthesizes and makes the main results of the vast 18th-century dissertation more readily consultable.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHORS
Vincenzo Bellini was born in Gambulaga, in the Ferrara area, in 1708 and died in Ferrara in 1783. An ecclesiastic and numismatist, he served as parish priest at Cassana from 1737 to 1758 and later became curator of the museum established in Ferrara around his important collections. He was one of the protagonists in the development of Italian studies on medieval coinage in the 18th century. In addition to the present work he published De monetis Italiae medii aevi, with subsequent supplements, and Delle monete di Ferrara. His research was regarded by contemporaries as continuous with the great numismatic studies of Muratori and Carli. Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi (1737–1824), canon, historian and antiquarian of Argenta, was Bellini’s collaborator and active in the Ferrarese museum and antiquarian milieu. He produced over forty publications on historical, archaeological and numismatic subjects.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Dell’antica lira ferrarese appeared in Ferrara in 1754 at Bernardino Pomatelli. Bibliographies and antique catalogs indicate it as the first and only edition. The work quickly gained notoriety. It was favorably reviewed in the years immediately following and contributed, together with Bellini’s other studies, to the growth of Italian medieval numismatics as a discipline based on source examination. Sixty-six years later, in 1820, Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi published in Ferrara the Compendio delle cose più notabili contenute nella Dissertazione, at Gaetano Bresciani. 19th-century numismatic bibliography expressly records the volume and emphasizes its rarity. The presence of the two publications bound in the same volume thus allows one to follow both the original 18th-century elaboration and the subsequent 19th-century reception and systematization of Bellini’s work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Bellini, Vincenzo, Dell’antica lira ferrarese di Marchesini detta volgarmente Marchesana, Ferrara, Bernardino Pomatelli, 1754.

Bertoldi, Francesco Leopoldo, Compendio delle cose più notabili contenute nella Dissertazione dell’antica Lira ferrarese di Marchesini detta Marchesana di Vincenzo Bellini, Ferrara, Gaetano Bresciani, 1820.

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, voce Vincenzo Bellini.

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, voce Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi.

Gnecchi, Francesco e Ercole, Saggio di bibliografia numismatica delle zecche italiane medioevali e moderne, voce Ferrara.

Luppi, Costantino, Vincenzo Bellini, in Rivista Italiana di Numismatica, 1889.

Ranghiasci, Bibliografia numismatica, F/18.

Lozzi, Biblioteca istorica della antica e nuova Italia, n. 1620.

Catalogo Einaudi, n. 390.

ICCU / SBN, repertori bibliografici italiani delle opere di Bellini e Bertoldi.