Rè, Narrazione delle solenni reali feste, Naples, 1749, mottled calf

NARRAZIONE

Narrazione delle solenni reali feste fatte celebrare in Napoli da Sua Maestà il Re delle Due Sicilie Carlo... per la nascita del suo primogenito Filippo real principe delle Due Sicilie. Naples, 1749

folio (569 x 414mm.), engraved frontispiece, engraved vignette on title-page, engraved headpieces and initials, 15 double-page and/or folding engraved plates, mostly by Giuseppe Vasi to designs by Vincenzo Rè, contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, frontispiece soiled, some tears to plates, final plate torn across but complete, binding rubbed; sold not subject to return

Most of the large and elegant engravings depict the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, which burned down in 1816. They include some early representations of the orchestra; one plate shows the orchestra arranged in tiers on the stage, and in another the orchestra resides in the pit during a serenata.

LITERATURE:

Watanabe-O'Kelly & Simon 616; Cicognara 1515