Tomasini / Ferrarii - De Donariis [Bound w:] De Re Vestiaria - 1639-1654

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GIANT SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TREATISE - TOGAS, MANTLES, FOOTWEAR AND ORNAMENTS OF ANCIENT ROME
3 WORKS BOUND TOGETHER
Important seventeenth-century convolute dedicated to archaeology and Greco-Roman antiquities, which brings together three significant works of Italian antiquarian erudition: the De Donariis ac Tabellis Votivis by Jacopo Filippo Tomasini and the two parts of the famous De Re Vestiaria by Ottavio Ferrari. The volume offers a wide reconstruction of the material culture of the ancient world through two complementary perspectives. Tomasini analyzes votive offerings, offerings consecrated in temples, and the material testimonies of Greco-Roman religiosity; Ferrari instead systematically addresses the clothing of the ancients, examining togae, mantles, headgear, footwear, ornaments, and distinguishing marks of the different social classes and magistracies. Exceptional is the iconographic apparatus, consisting of 31 full-page copperplate plates, one folded copper engraving plate, and one woodcut plate, with depictions of statues, ancient figures, monuments, garments, footwear and archaeological finds. A true antiquarian museum on paper, expression of that seventeenth-century erudite culture which, through direct study of monuments and figurative sources, prepared the birth of modern archaeology.

WHY TO BUY
TRE IMPORTANTI OPERE ANTIQUARIE IN UN SOLO VOLUME! Tomasini e Ferrari riuniti in un raro convoluto seicentesco.
OLTRE 30 TAVOLE ILLUSTRATE! Statue, vestments, togae, footwear, monuments and votive offerings of classical antiquity.
IL GRANDE REPERTORIO DEL COSTUME ROMANO! A fundamental source for reconstructing the clothing of ancient Rome.
LEGATURA COEVA IN PELLE! A fascinating XVIIth-century ensemble with a strong archaeological and iconographic interest.

MARKET VALUE
The convolutes that bring together De Donariis by Tomasini and the two parts of De Re Vestiaria by Ferrari are substantially more interesting than the individual loose texts, especially when they preserve a wide iconographic apparatus and a uniform old binding. For a complete copy of the plates and in generally good condition, a realistic retail value is in the range of €1,500-2,500, with potential for higher offers for copies particularly fresh, well margined, or with significant provenance.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
Three works bound in one volume. Rich illustration apparatus consisting of 31 full-page copper engravings, one folded copper plate, and one woodcut plate. Elegant contemporary full leather with marbled spine, gold-decorated raised bands. Slight dampstaining on the final leaves, sporadic foxing and browning in keeping with age. Plates generally well preserved and of strong iconographic interest. Possible natural signs of use, minor abrasions, and tiny defects to the binding.
TOMASINI, DE DONARIIS AC TABELLIS VOTIVIS, 1639
[8], 226, [22] pp., with 5 full-page copper engravings and 1 folded copper plate. The format is confirmed also by institutional catalogs; some descriptions condense the 6 plates as “[6] c. of plates.”

FERRARI, DE RE VESTIARIA LIBRI SEPTEM + PARS ALTERA, 1654
[20], 261, [16], 213, [26] pp. It is the cleanest and most recurring bibliographic collation in institutional catalogs.
Three works in one volume. Pp. [8], 226, [22]; [20], 261; [16], 213, [26].
As with all old volumes, slight defects or restorations not expressly mentioned may be present.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Jacopo Filippo Tomasini (1595-1655).
Iacobi Philippi Tomasini, De Donariis ac Tabellis Votivis Liber Singularis.
Udini: Ex Typographia Nicolai Schiratti, 1639.
Bound with:
Ottavio Ferrari (1607-1682).
Octavii Ferrarii De Re Vestiaria Libri Septem.
Patavii: Typis Pauli Frambetti Bibliopolae, 1654.
Bound with:
Ottavio Ferrari.
Octavii Ferrarii De Re Vestiaria Pars Altera. Libri Quatuor.
Patavii: Typis Pauli Frambetti Bibliopolae, 1654.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Jacopo Filippo Tomasini (1595-1655) was an ecclesiastic, scholar, bibliographer, historian and Padovan antiquarian, who became bishop of Cittanova d’Istria. A figure fully embedded in the European République des Lettres, he cultivated interests ranging from ecclesiastical history to bibliography, from biographies of illustrious men to the study of antiquities. In De Donariis ac Tabellis Votivis he tackled systematically the theme of votive offerings in the classical world, using literary and material testimonies to reconstruct religious practices, rituals and forms of ancient devotion.
Ottavio Ferrari (1607-1682) was a philologist, antiquarian and professor at the University of Padua, where he taught eloquence and letters. He was one of the leading seventeenth-century scholars of the material culture of Roman antiquity. His fame is mainly tied to De Re Vestiaria, a monumental study of ancient clothing in which literary sources, statues, reliefs and iconographic testimonies are compared to reconstruct the Roman way of dressing in a systematic manner. Ferrari analyzes not only individual garments, but their social and symbolic value, distinguishing civilian, military, magistral, feminine and ceremonial attire.

RARITY
The particular interest of the present specimen lies in the union, in a single contemporary binding, of three works tightly complementary to the study of the material culture of antiquity. The individual treatises can be encountered separately, while a convolute including De Donariis and the entire De Re Vestiaria in its two parts offers a much broader view of seventeenth-century Italian antiquarianism. Equally fundamental is the preservation of the rich iconographic apparatus, an element often decisive in rarity and desirability of these volumes: the numerous plates could have been separated over the centuries to be collected independently. The combination of three antiquarian texts, over thirty plates, a contemporary binding, and a topic of great appeal makes the volume particularly interesting for collections of archaeology, costume history, classical iconography and illustrated books of the seventeenth century.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
Between the Renaissance and the Seventeenth Century, antiquarianism represented the main tool through which European scholars attempted to reconstruct concrete knowledge of classical civilization. Before archaeology became an autonomous discipline, erudites like Tomasini and Ferrari studied artifacts, statues, inscriptions, coins and figurative testimonies in a systematic way, relating them to ancient literary sources. De Donariis offers one of the earliest specific treatises on votive objects, documenting the relationship between religion and material culture in the Greco-Roman world. De Re Vestiaria, instead, constitutes one of the most extensive seventeenth-century repertoires on ancient dress: the garment is interpreted as an indicator of sex, rank, political function, social condition and military affiliation. The numerous illustrations transformed these texts into practical tools for consultation by artists, architects, scenographers and collectors seeking reliable models of antiquity. The convolute thus documents a pivotal moment in the transition from humanist erudition to the scientific study of archaeological finds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux.
Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres.
Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità.
Ebert, Allgemeines bibliographisches Lexikon.
ICCU – Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale.
Berlin Katalog, repertori dedicati all’archeologia e all’antiquaria classica.