Lorenzi - Coltivazione de’ Monti - 1778

THE CULTIVATION OF THE MOUNTAINS IN THE FIRST EDITION, WITH PORTRAIT OF ARCHDUKE FERDINAND OF AUSTRIA AND RICH CALLOGRAPHIC APPARATUS

ABSTRACT
First edition of the celebrated didactic–agronomic poem by Bartolomeo Lorenzi, published in Verona in 1778 and dedicated to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. The work, structured in four cantos according to the cycle of the seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn – constitutes an original meeting between poetry, agronomy and Veneto Enlightenment culture. Treccani describes it as a true manual in verse, rich in concrete indications on mountain agricultural practices. Treccani The original edition is embellished by the off-text portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, by the engraved title page and by numerous elegant cal- graphic vignettes of rural subject matter, produced within the Lorenzi family.

REASONS FOR COLLECTING / WHY TO BUY
FIRST EDITION – Veronese original edition of 1778, recognized as such by antiquarian bibliography and Lorenzi studies. Ex Libris Roma
RICH ICONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS – With portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, engraved title page and fifteen headpieces and finials cal- lographic of rural subject matter. Ex Libris Roma
AGRONOMY IN VERSE – A rare eighteenth-century example of didactic poetry concretely applied to the cultivation of mountain lands, with specialized agricultural content. Treccani
EDITION CONNECTED TO THE AUTHOR’S FAMILY – The portrait and decorative engravings were made from drawings and branches attributable to Bartolomeo Lorenzi’s brothers, making the work particularly coherent also artistically.

MARKET VALUE
Considering the decorative binding of the present exemplar but also the gore visible on the first leaves and some signs of use, a realistic antiquarian estimate can be placed around €300–400.

CONDITION
Binding in card-covered boards wrapped with decorative paper in polychrome floral motifs, with a spine and edges coherent with the overall binding; slight abrasions, small signs of use and wear at corners and headcaps. Frontispiece engraved in copper with allegory of Happiness and motto “Felicitas provinciarum”; off-text engraved portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, dedicatee of the work. Followed by headpieces and finials engraved in copper with rural and pastoral scenes. Some water stains, browning and physiological foxing. In old books, with a long history, there may be some imperfections, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visuals. Refer to the original photographs to verify the actual condition of the object. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 216; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Della coltivazione de’ monti.
Verona, 1778.
Bartolomeo Lorenzi.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Della coltivazione de’ monti belongs to the eighteenth-century tradition of didactic poems, but it stands out for the concreteness of the agronomic observations and for the attention to agricultural practices of mountain territories. The poem is structured in four cantos, each linked to a season, according to a tradition that goes back to Virgil and Alamanni, but with a particular order: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Treccani emphasizes how the text presents a true operational program of agricultural works, remedies, tools and techniques, going beyond a mere poetic exercise. Treccani Thus the work constitutes a significant testimony of the Enlightenment-style meeting between literature, natural sciences, agriculture and social usefulness.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Bartolomeo Lorenzi was a Veronese poet, cleric and scholar active in the second half of the eighteenth century. After experiences as a tutor for Venetian patrician families, he deepened studies of natural sciences, physics and chemistry between Venice and Padua. In 1772 he returned to Verona, where he was close to the educated city milieu and composed Della coltivazione de’ monti, published in 1778. Treccani His literary and scientific formation is fully reflected in the work, which combines poetic form with technical contents of agronomy.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Verona edition of 1778 is the first edition of the work. Antiquarian sources describe it as printed in large in-8° format, with 216 pages, frontispiece engraved with the portrait of Ferdinand of Austria, engraved title page and fifteen headpieces and historiated final leaves. AbeBooks The poem enjoyed sufficient relevance to be reissued in a modern era in a photostatic edition in Verona in 1971. capitolareverona.it An eighteenth-century bibliographic source already records the work among the distinguished illustrated texts, explicitly noting the portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua, no. 2606, with reference to the original edition and to the engravings by the Lorenzi brothers. Ex Libris Roma Treccani, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, entry Bartolomeo Lorenzi. Treccani Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona, repertories relating to Della coltivazione de’ monti and to the 1971 facsimile edition. capitolareverona.it ICCU / SBN, s.v. Bartolomeo Lorenzi, Della coltivazione de’ monti, Verona 1778. CERL Thesaurus, s.v. Bartolomeo Lorenzi. WorldCat, s.v. Della coltivazione de’ monti. Repertori antiquari ALAI / ILAB and specialized catalogs relating to the original 1778 edition.