Mifsud, Ignazio Saverio.

folio (311 x 208mm.), engraved frontispiece portrait of the dedicatee (Cardinal Rezzonico), woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, engraved illustration on p.342, modern marbled paper boards

Mifsud (1722-1773) lists both published and unpublished works by Maltese authors up to the year 1650. He includes in his appendix letters by contemporary scholars informing him of various works, and describes the libraries within Malta that he used for his research. The manuscript notes for this volume are preserved in the National Library of Malta.

The book was printed by Niccolò Capaci, a Sicilian typographer who established the second press in Malta in 1756, and was active until he was deported back to Sicity in 1772 after being found guilty of defamation. He produced about thirty works during his time in Malta, all in Latin and Italian, and about twenty more ephemeral publications such as leaflets for religious festivals. He also produced a manuscript treatise on the technicalities of printing, Breve notizia della tipografica professione, known from a manuscript dated 1820 in the National Library of Malta, and recently published (Anna Giulia Cavagna, La tipografica professione di Niccolò Capaci, Milan 2005).

This is quite a rare work; we have traced two copies in Germany, one in the British Library, and one in Rome.