Vivaldi, Antonio.

first edition, including "The Four Seasons" [RV 269, 315, 293 & 297],  complete parts (6) for violino principale, violino primo, violino secondo, alto viola, organo e violoncello, and obbligato cello, containing the extra leaf for "Winter" (page 10*), each part is 2 volumes in one, folio (29 x 21 cms), engraved throughout, dedicatory letter by Vivaldi and four sonnets (4 pages) in violino principale, descriptive commentaries within the music for Concertos I to IV ["The Four Seasons"], eighteenth century red calf-backed marbled boards with manuscript label (violino principale), and later card wrappers, modern calf-backed slip case, red-gilt lettered spine, lacking portrait

Ryom (1986), pp.27-28; Ryom (2007), pp.592 and 129; RISM V 2225; BUC, p.1047]; P. Everett, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and other concertos Op.8 (Cambridge, 1996).

There is no surviving autograph source for Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", one of the best-loved works in the concert repertoire.

Rare: we have no record of the first edition of Vivaldi's celebrated "Four Seasons" ever being sold at auction.  There is no complete copy in the UK;  that in the British Library lacks the second cello part, containing the obbligato for the 'Largo' in Concerto IV ("Winter") RV 297 (page 10*).  "It is worth mentioning here that the delightful obbligato cello part ...became detached and lost ...in most extant copies... simply because it was printed on a loose leaf.  Consequently, most modern editions, recordings and live performances also lack it" (Everett (pp.15 & 93n).  Indeed, a copy of the cello part in a sale in these rooms on 1 December 1994, lot 384, contained this leaf with the contemporary inscription "en reliant ce livre il faut que cette feui[lle] reste detaché".

This edition seems to be the principal source for these four famous concertos: no autograph is known (although several survive for later concertos in the set).  Important contemporary copies in Manchester, prepared in 1726, but under the composer's direction, help confirm that the Le Cène edition provides authentic versions of all twelve concertos.  The Paris Conservatoire and Library of Congress copies contain the engraved portrait by François Morellon La Cave, which is not found here.  Ryom considers the only complete copy of this edition to be the one in Paris, as it contains both the portrait and leaf 10*.