Bartolomeo Pinelli. Raccolta di cinquanta Costumi li più interessanti. Delle Citta, Terre, e Paesi, in Provincie diverse del Regno di Napoli. Rome: Giovanni Scudellari, 1817. First octavo edition, published in folio in 1814, but with new illustrations (based on a 2011 Bonham's sale). Oblong octavo (6.125 x 8.5 inches; 155 x 215 mm.). Engraved title-page. Fifty numbered engraved plates, signed in engraving and typically dated 1816; extra illustrated with eight additional plates, some from Pinelli's book on Rome. Contemporary half roan over gray-blue moire-covered boards, spine stamped and ruled in gilt, boards ruled in blind; all edges of the text block stained yellow (faded) and sprinkled brown; plain endpapers, flyleaves. Covers worn; spine partially perished (top-third) with tears at the base; boards soiled and with some spotty discoloration; some shallow bubbles beneath the moire on the rear board; corners bumped; front board very gently bowed. Occasional foxing, slightly heavier toward the last few plates; page extremities very faintly tanned (still supple); book binder's ticket on the front pastedown. A very good set of plates in an acceptable binding. "Pinelli's chalk and water-colour drawings are now much esteemed, as he was endowed with a veritable genius for this kind of work, which was exhibited as much in the composition of his drawings as in the truth of his representations of buildings and of national costumes" (Philip Whiteway. "Pinelli" [in:] The Collector. Volume 3. London: 1907. p. 299). The First Proofs of the Universal Catalogue of Books on Art, Vol. II, London: 1870 (ebook), describing the 1814 edition ("Another edition. Obl. 8vo. Rome, 1827"). (#10348).
