Add MS 8680-8681

Italian. Copy, partly dated 1754. A detailed historical, ethnographical and geographical account of the town of Otranto and its surrounds in the Apulia region (Italy). The work is based on De situ Iapygiae and Callipolis descriptio, two pamphlets written by the famous humanist doctor and man of letters Antonio de Ferrariis, called Galateo, and printed together in Basel in 1553. Marciano's text is divided into four books and includes copies of ancient inscriptions and quotations in Latin and Greek. The present MSS. seem to incorporate some of the notes added to the original text by Domenico Tommaso Albanese (d. 1685). The first printed edition, Descrizione, origini e successi della Provincia d'Otranto del filosofo e medico Girolamo Marciano di Leverano con aggiunte del filosofo e medico Domenico Tommaso Albanese di Oria (Naples, 1855), has a slightly different chapter division; for Girolamo Marciano and Domenico Tommaso Albanese see C. Villani, Scrittori ed artisti pugliesi antichi, moderni e contemporanei (Trani, 1904), pp. 19, 568. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '242' in pencil in top left corner of front pastedowns. Purchased, together with Add. 8662, 8664, 8665, 8667, 8668, 8669, 8673, 8677, 8678, and 8679, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 242 (part).

Paper. Two volumes. 300 x 212mm. Two Italian hands, one for each volume. 18th-cent. binding of vellum mottled in brown.