Francesco Locatelli - Poesie per le felicissime nozze del nobile signor conte e cavaliere Giovanni Estorre Albani - 1781

Splendid and monumental large folio (ca. 434 x 313 mm) printed in Bergamo in 1781 by the renowned typographer Francesco Locatelli. The volume gathers the precious miscellany of celebratory nuptial poems marking the most politically, socially, and economically significant marriage between two giants of the Venetian mainland aristocracy: Count Giovanni Estorre Albani and Countess Paola Martinengo.

The work presents itself as an absolute masterpiece of typographic luxury and 18th-century Lombard patronage: printed on strong, very high grammage paper, it preserves its wide original margins untouched by the binder (leaves completely untrimmed). The monumental frontispiece is enclosed within a magnificent and elaborate allegorical copperplate (engraved) frame, attributable to the prestigious Venetian workshop of the engraver Giampiccoli.

Inside there are refined heraldic alliance crests cut (such as the Ugoni-Albani arms) and decorative initials.

The volume preserves its rare original contemporary editorial softcover in heavy rustic paper. This is an exceptional survivale for 18th-century miscellanies, which almost always lost their original cover when rebound in leather or parchment by owners. The plates are beautifully impressed ad hoc for the event with typographic frames and geometric ornamentation: at the center of the front plate stands the large woodcut emblem of the Albani family, while the rear features the heraldic device of the Martinengo family enriched with military trophies.

A volume of immense literary and historical significance.
As attested by the precious final index of authors, the work collects the contributions of no fewer than 60 illustrious scholars (mostly linked to the Accademia degli Eccitati of Bergamo and the Colonia Eridania of the Arcadia).

Among the prestigious noble signatures and inner texts, there are historical and genealogical pieces of enormous importance, rich in footnote annotations that document:
- The 17th-century maritime enterprises and the Ottoman defense of Candia (1649) by the Knights of Malta of the Albani family;
- The 16th-century literary ties between the poet Lucia Albani Avogadro and Torquato Tasso;
- The ancient medieval origins (12th–14th centuries) of the Ugoni patricians of Brescia;
- Sonnets and learned pieces signed by prominent local patricians: Giuseppe Finardi (under the pseudonym arcadic Liberisco Seriaco), Ercole Camillo de' Tassi, Andrea Secco Suardo, Giovambatista Gallizioli, Girolamo Cortenovis, Pietro Zanchi, Giovanni Pezzoli, and Filippo Martinoni.

Generally good condition, an exceptionally genuine and well-preserved volume. The original softcover boards are solid and well preserved, with physiological foxing due to age and minimal wear to the outer spine. Internally the papers are white, clean, and crisply fresh. There is a partial internal loosening of the fascicles with splitting of the original stitching (a structural defect absolutely common and physiological for folio-format volumes of this size printed on heavy paper in provisional bindings, which does not affect the stability or the integrity of the individual sheets).

Rarity difficult to obtain on the antiquarian market.