Giovanni Battista Falda, 1665-1669

Views of Rome
Giovanni Battista Falda, 1665-1669
FALDA, Giovanni Battista (1648-1678). Il nuovo teatro delle fabriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna. Rome: Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, 1665-[1669?].

An important work of Italian architecture—“one of the best books of views of Rome” (Cicognara). “In Italy, up to this time, there had been no extensive and systematic attempt to record contemporary Renaissance architecture ... Falda's work, aside from its historic value, is of special interest in showing the development in Italy of the realistic approach to architectural representation” (Fowler). According to Fowler, “all the copies examined vary slightly in the number and arrangement of the plates.” The present copy contains the issue without plate numbers, divided accordingly: part I, 33 plates; part II, 15 plates; part III, 34 plates. Sometimes copies are bound with the two later additions, parts IV and V, published after Falda's death. See Fowler 116; Cicognara 3865; Indice delle stampe de' Rossi, p. 188

3 parts in one volume, oblong folio (245 x 346mm). 3 engraved titles, 3 engraved dedication leaves; 82 engraved plates (all three titles with blank margin trimmed at bottom edge, first title with margin extended and glue stains; occasional light spotting and soiling; dampstain affecting last several leaves, with small repairs in image area of final two plates). 19th-century calf, red morocco title label (head and tail of spine chipped, boards very rubbed). Provenance: Hannibal d'Ichtersheim (signature on title) – inscription dated 1880 on flyleaf – Harlowe E. Clark (1915-2007; Northwest journalist and avid collector of antiquities; bookplate).