Pietro Metastasio - Poesie del Signor Abbate Pietro Metastasio - 1774-1775

PIETRO METASTASIO – POEMS – FORLÌ, 1774 – TWO 18TH-CENTURY VOLUMES WITH ENGRAVED PORTRAIT

Interesting pair of original eighteenth-century volumes of the work:

Poems of Mr. Abbate Pietro Metastasio. New enlarged edition with critical dissertations.

Forlì, 1774.

The lot comprises two physical volumes, first volume and second volume, preserved in their ancient parchment bindings.

Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782), imperial poet at the Vienna court, was one of the most important librettist authors of the eighteenth century and a central figure in the history of Italian melodrama.

VALUABLE DETAILS

The first volume features a fine engravable portrait of Pietro Metastasio, engraved within an oval medallion, with identifying inscription at the base.
Elegant eighteenth-century title pages are present, enclosed within ornamental frames, drop caps, and typographic flourishes. The edition also includes critical dissertations and theatrical texts, among which the famous Adriano in Siria, one of the author’s best-known works. The collection documents Metastasio's editorial fortune during his own lifetime, being an edition published in 1774, eight years before the poet's death.

CONDITION

Ancient parchment bindings with widespread signs of use and age. Spines worn, with particularly evident wear at the ends and small detachment of the cover material. Internally there are browning, foxing, stains, and damp discolorations, in some spots quite noticeable. The photographed pages are generally legible and the engraved portrait retains good sharpness.

Two authentic Italian books of the eighteenth century, of interest to collectors of antique literature, poetry, musical theater, operatic librettos, and eighteenth-century engravings.

The photographs are an integral part of the description.