Add MS 8524

GIUSEPPE CAPITANIO DE MUZZI: Letter-Book; 1698-1702. Italian, French, and Latin. Partly autograph and printed. The volume, dated 1710 (f. 1), contains letters and relazioni by Giuseppe Capitanio de Muzzi (1651-1733), abbot and travel writer from Bergamo, relating to the years he spent in Rome as secretary to the Venetian ambassador Niccolò Erizzo. During this time he was appointed Abbot of St. Peter of Ossero (Osor, in Istria) by Clement XI. The letters are mostly addressed to Roman and Venetian diplomats. Among the recipients are Nicolò Erizzo, the papal auditor Abate Melani at Paris, Prince Antonio Ottoboni Procuratore di San Marco, the Venetian ambassadors Francesco Loredan at Vienna and Alvise Pisani at Paris. The collection also includes: an autograph letter (f. 392) from Nicolò Erizzo to Capitanio, poems by Capitanio, copies of miscellaneous papers and letters of Pope Clement XI, the Bishop of Laon Cardinal Caesar d'Estrées, Ferdinand Charles Duke of Mantua, the French ambassador at Rome Jean Baptiste René de Froulai Count of Tessé and others, printed pamphlets, engraving and engraved portraits mostly of Cardinals and Popes. The collection is unpublished: it is mentioned in C. G. Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon..., vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1750), pp. col. 1644. For Capitanio see also P. Donazzolo, I viaggiatori veneti minori... (Rome, 1927). Title (f. 1) 'Miscellanea di Roma, e lettere dell' Illustrissimo, e Reverendissimo Signor Abbate Don Gioseppe Capitanio Nobile Bergamasco, Abbate d' Osero, Quer, et Onia: dono di Clemente XI e Cav. di S. Lazaro de Monte Carmello, creato da Sua Maesta Cristianissima di Lodovico XIIII / Venetia primo Settembre 1710'. Inc. (f. 2) 'Copia di lettera scritta…Milano 6 ottobre 1698 / Io m'attendeva di ritornar', expl. (f. 451v) 'Roma 7 Gennaio 1702…e pregiudizi dello spirito. m' umilio'. Autograph relation (ff. 103-110v), letter (ff. 391-393), and notes throughout. Poems included are as follows: (a) f. 205, 'Per le lagrime sparse da Nostro Signore Clemente XI nella sua esaltazione al Pontificato', inc. 'Il Macedone Re pianse in pensando', with later note 'Dell'Abbate B[...]i' [illegible], sonnet; - (b) f. 206, 'Risposta dell'Abate Capitanio', inc. 'Pianse Alessandro e il capo altier crollando', sonnet; - (c) f. 371, 'Per la dignità di Procuratore di San Marco costituita all'Eccellentissimo Signor Principe Don Antonio Otthobuoni / Sonetto Estemporaneo / All'Eccellentissimo ... Cardinal Pietro figliolo di Sua Eccellenza detto in Albano alla presenza dell'... Ambasciatore Veneto', inc. 'Ceder al fin veggiam Fortuna al merto', sonnet; - (d) ff. 433-434v, 'Anxius Apollo de summi Pontificii electione sorores suas vocavit ... / Carpineus: Hoc regnante novam superabunt Sabbata legem...', poem in Latin verse describing the virtues and faults of the Cardinals eligible for the Papacy in the Conclave for the election of Clement XI (23 Nov. 1700). Printed pamphlets include: (a) f. 114, No. 50. / Suplement a l' histoire journaliere. The Hague. S.n. 1700. [1] leaf. Printed; - (b) ff. 232-233v, Distinta relazione dell' infermità, morte, e trasporto dell' Eccellentissimo Signor [Louis Grimaldi] Prencipe di Monaco Ambasciatore degnissimo del Rè Cristianissimo in Roma. Rome. Antonio de Rossi. 1701. 4°. [2] leaves. Printed; - (c) loose leaf after f. 240, Nouvelles extraordinaries, article relating to Innocent XII' s Bull on the Holy Year. Amsterdam. S.n. 1700. [1] leaf. Printed. The engraved portraits include: Innocent XI (f. 96), Marco Daniele Dolfin (f. 112), Giorgio Cornaro (f. 171), Leandro Colloredo (f. 173), Enrico Noris (f. 175), Marco Antonio Barbarigo (f. 200), Clement XI (f. 204), Pietro Ottoboni (f. 249), Duke of Uxeda (f. 383), Gian Battista Tolomei (f. 394), Thomas Maillard de Tournon (f. 422), Nicolò Coscia (f. 423), Angelo Maria Querini (f. 424), Leandro Porzía (f. 425), Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni (f. 426), Fabio Chigi (f. 427), Giacomo Franzoni (f. 428v), Innocent XII (f. 429), Gian Battista Rubini (f. 436). Engraving (f. 100) of the arms of Innocent I; coloured pen drawing (f. 435) of the arms of Innocent XIII. Sketched section plan (f. 60) of the basilica of St Peter in Rome. Pen drawing (front pastedown) of unidentified arms (party per fess, in chief or, an eagle displayed gules, crowned; in base argent, a fess gules) with mitra and six tassels of an abbot pendent on either side, with printed cutting of similar escutcheon pasted below: possibly the arms of Abbot Capitanio de Muzzi. Armorial bookplate of the 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark 'L/20/A' (f. i). Purchased, together with Add. 8432, 8486, 8666 and 8690, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 84 (part).

Paper; ff. 451+iv, plus 29 unfoliated blanks throughout and 1 unfoliated leaf with contiguous blank after f. 227. Composite volume. 270 x 200mm. One Italian hand. Early 18th-cent. Italian binding of full vellum.