Add MS 8792

ARCIADE [OR ARGIADE] EPIDAURIO P. A. [I.E. VINCENZO GREGORIO LAVAZZOLI]: Treatise on wedding rites in ancient Rome; late 18th cent. Italian. Copy. Imperfect. According to the list of arcadi given by A. M. Giorgetti Vichi in Gli arcadi dal 1690 al 1800. Onomasticon (Rome, 1977), p. 28, Arciade or Argiade Epidaurio was the name used by the domenican friar Vincenzo Gregorio Lavazzoli in the Academia of Arcadia, of which he became member between 1791-1800. In fact the text is a short version of a work by Floriano Malvezzi (d. 1801), primicerius of the Cathedral of Bologna and member of the Academia of Arcadia around 1743-1766, who published it under his pseudonym of Diomede Egeriaco as I riti nuziali degli antichi romani (Rome, 1762): cf. G. Melzi, Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime di scrittori italiani..., vol. i (Milan, 1848), p. 305, col. 1. The work was also published in the same year by Lorenzo Becattelli in Bologna on the occasion of the wedding Lambertini-Savorgnan with the title I riti nuziali degli antichi romani per le nozze di sua Eccellenza Don Giovanni Lambertini con sua Eccellenza Donna Lucrezia Savorgnan (Bologna: Lelio dalla Volpe, 1672): cf. B.L. copies L.1.e.10 and 1703.a.4. Some years later, in 1791, the same text was also published in Perugia by Carlo Baduel on the occasion of the wedding Cesarei-Marsciano with the title Dei riti delle antiche nozze romane (Perugia: Carlo Baduel, 1791); B.L. copy 665.c.15.(3). All printed editions include the same appendix of notes, which does not appear in the present MS. For Floriano Malvezzi see S. Mazzetti, Memorie storiche sopra l'Università e l'Istituto di scienze di Bologna... (Bologna, 1840), p. 193, and Giorgetti Vichi, Gli Arcadi..., op.cit, p. 79. The present MS. is entitled (f. 1) 'Delle antiche nozze romane / Ragionamento di Arciade Epidaurio / Pastore Arcade', inc. 'Chiunque vorrà riguardare le usanze', expl. (f. 7v) 'gli animi maritati de' tempi nostri? / Fine del primo Ragionamento'. The text is followed (f. 7v) by the Latin translation of three verses from Homer 'Aetate matura uxorem ... Hae sunt nuptiae opportunae', apparently copied [but with variants] from Elogi accademici della Società degli Spensierati di Rossano. Parte II. Descritti dal Dottor Signor D. Giacinto Gimma..., vol. ii (Naples: Carlo Troise, 1703), p. 86: cf. note following the verses. The catchword 'Ragionamento 2^o' in the lower right corner of last leaf (f. 7v) suggests that the MS. is imperfect and a second part of the essay is missing. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark 'L/16/D' (front pastedown). '265' in pencil in top left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8730, 8793, 8794, 8795, 8796, 8797, and 8798, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 265 (part).

Paper; ff. 7. 295 x 203mm. Horizontal catchwords on each page. One Italian hand. Guilford quarter binding of brown leather with marble paper covers over pasteboards.