AA.VV. - Dictionnaire Historique et Géographique de l'Italie - 1775

FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE KING OF HANNOVER – ITALY 1775 IN TWO VOLUMES
An fascinating historical and geographical dictionary of pre-revolutionary Italy, published in Paris in 1775.
A royal provenance exemplar, belonging to the library of Ernst August I, King of Hanover.
Two complete volumes that recount Italian cities, kingdoms, republics, art, history, customs, and great Italian protagonists. Prestigious crowned stamps of the royal library, recognizable on the preliminary pages of both volumes.
A significant testimony to the interest of European courts in the history and civilization of eighteenth-century Italy.

ABSTRACT
First edition of 1775 of an important French encyclopedic repertory entirely dedicated to Italy, published in Paris at Lacombe in two volumes. The Dictionnaire historique et géographique portatif de l’Italie offers a broad panorama of the peninsula before national unification, describing its kingdoms, republics, states, provinces, cities, monuments, political institutions, commercial activities, traditions, and illustrious personalities. The work also includes extensive notes devoted to the history of sovereigns, popes, artists, writers, architects, and Italian men of culture. Particularly interesting is its attention to painting, sculpture, music, architecture, and the main testimonies of antiquity. The most distinctive feature of the exemplar is its provenance from the library of Ernst August I, King of Hanover, evidenced by red heraldic stamps with crown and the sovereign’s monogram, present in both volumes.

WHY TO BUY
The main collectible interest of this exemplar does not lie solely in the documentary importance of the work, but above all in its prestigious royal provenance. The stamps of the Ernst August I of Hanover library attest to the volumes’ belonging to a sovereign-ruled library collection, placing this Italy-focused work within the cultural history of the Hanoverian dynasty. The presence of ownership marks on both tomes constitutes a particularly significant element for collectors of books of aristocratic and royal provenance. Added to this are the completeness of the two volumes, the Paris eighteenth-century edition, the elegant decorative bindings, and the richness of the contents. A package that unites Italian history, Enlightenment culture, European bibliography, and dynastic collecting.

MARKET VALUE
The commercial value of the work is estimated between €350 and €450, higher than ordinary copies thanks to the prestigious provenance from the royal library of Ernst August of Hanover, evidenced by the stamps present in both volumes. The completeness of the work and the elegant bindings enhance its collectible interest.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Uniform bindings covered with brown marbled paper, smooth backs decorated to imitate tortoiseshell, brownish-red leather-tole lats bearing titles and volume numbers impressed in gold, gilt edges. Red dyed edges. Important royal provenance: on a preliminary sheet of each volume appears the red circular stamp crowned with a monogram of Ernst August, King of Hanover, with central monogram and Latin ownership inscription. French text arranged in a single column, with ornamental borders, decorative initials, and printer’s tailpieces. Pages with sporadic light foxing and natural signs of aging. Bindings with abrasions and wear along edges and ends of the backs. The first volume shows a conspicuous loss of backing on the lower part of the spine. In old books, with centuries-long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp.:
Vol. I: (2); 2nn; 24; 674; (2).
Vol. II: (2); 2nn; 704; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Dictionnaire historique et géographique portatif de l'Italie.
À Paris, Chez Lacombe, 1775.
AA.VV.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Published in 1775, the Dictionnaire historique et géographique portatif de l’Italie arose in a period when the Italian peninsula represented one of the main centers of cultural interest in the European Enlightenment. Still divided into numerous independent states, Italy was considered the great repository of memory of classical antiquity, of Renaissance artistic tradition, and of European religious history. The dictionary aimed to systematically gather knowledge related to these territories, offering the French reader a practical tool for study and travel. Its multidisciplinary character is particularly significant. Alongside geographical descriptions appear biographies of popes, sovereigns, condottieri, artists, scientists, and writers, in addition to information concerning commerce, industries, institutions, and local customs. The entries on Rome, Naples, Venice, Florence, and other major cities testify to Italy’s central role in shaping the intellectual formation of European elites. The volume also preserves a historical representation of the peninsula prior to the French Revolution, the Napoleonic campaigns, and the Risorgimento. The political and territorial designations, judgments on customs, and economic observations reflect the sensibilities of an era in which Italy was perceived as a plurality of states united by an extraordinary cultural heritage.

PROVENANCE – THE ROYAL LIBRARY OF HANOVER
The most important aspect of this exemplar consists of the ownership stamps of the Hanover Royal Library, attributable to Ernst August I (1771–1851), Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and King of Hanover from 1837 to 1851. Son of George III of Great Britain, Ernst August belonged to the House of Hanover, one of the most important reigning houses in Europe between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1837, upon the death of William IV, the succession to the British Crown and that of Hanover separated. Young Victoria ascended the throne of the United Kingdom, while Ernst August became King of Hanover, where different succession laws prevailed. The sovereign moved his residence to the German kingdom and consolidated the dynastic continuity of the Hanoverian monarchy. The two volumes bear a red circular stamp with crown, bearing a royal monogram and legend referring to the library of Ernst August, King of Hanover. This mark constitutes tangible evidence of provenance from the sovereign’s library collection and directly links the exemplar to the history of European dynastic collecting. The presence of the two stamps does not necessarily indicate that the work was personally purchased by the king: the royal library could include books acquired in earlier periods, inherited, or subsequently cataloged. The mark, however, attests to belonging to the royal collection, a feature of notable bibliographic significance.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
The work was published anonymously, with no explicit compiler on the title page. It fits within the tradition of eighteenth-century French geographical and historical dictionaries, intended to condense in alphabetical form a large amount of information previously scattered across historical works, travel accounts, biographical compendia, and geographical treatises. The compiler demonstrates wide familiarity with Italian political and religious history, the peninsula’s geography, and European artistic culture. The preface emphasizes the aim of offering a methodical and accessible work, capable of surpassing the limits of previous repertories through a neatly organized gathering of knowledge useful to both residents and foreign travelers. In the absence of a securely documented author attribution, the volume should be cataloged as an anonymous work.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first edition appeared in Paris in 1775 at Lacombe, a bookseller active on rue Christine. The work was published in two volumes, alphabetically arranged: the first from A to M, the second from M to Z. The dictionary’s structure met the needs of an educated public who wished to consult quickly historical, geographical, artistic, and biographical information relating to Italy. Of particular interest are the preliminary pages devoted to approval and royal privilege. The text records the manuscript’s approval on September 24, 1773, and the printing privilege granted in 1774, with registration in June 1775. These documents attest to the administrative process required for publishing a book in Ancien Régime France. The edition features careful typography, with ornamental borders and small decorative elements that accompany the alphabetical order of the entries. The original print run cannot be determined with certainty. The described exemplar stands out from ordinary copies for the Hanover library stamps, documenting a subsequent circulation within royal library collections.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Dictionnaire historique et géographique portatif de l’Italie, Paris, Lacombe, 1775, two volumes. Recorded edition in the Catalogue général of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, identifier FRBNF33347549. An exemplar of the edition is held at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, shelf marks B-2303 and B-2304, with collation XXIV, 674 pages and [4], 703 pages. The work also appears in bibliographic collections dedicated to French travel literature and eighteenth-century knowledge of Italy. Regarding royal provenance, the stamp with the legend Ex Bibliotheca Ernesti Aug. Hannov. Regis is documented also in specialized directories of book ownership marks, including the Special Collections of the College of William & Mary. The iconographic and textual correspondence of the stamps present in the exemplar constitutes the identifying element of Hanoverian provenance.