1769 ❧ Bodoni's first major work at Stamperia Reale. BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA (PRINTER). PACI...

1769 ❧ Bodoni's first major work at Stamperia Reale. BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA (PRINTER). PACIAUDI, PAOLO MARIA (AUTHOR). Descrizione delle feste celebrate in Parma l'anno MDCCLXIX per le auguste nozze di Sua Altezza Reale l'Infante Don Ferdinando colla Reale Arciduchessa Maria Amalia. Parma: Nella Stamperia Reale, [1769]. Folio (560 x 405 mm). Engraved frontispiece and 36 copper engraved plates by Benigno Bossi and others, 6 of which are double page. Some marginal light soil. Contemporary calf. Some wear. One of Bodoni's most ambitious folios, a fine festival book produced to celebrate the wedding of Ferdinand 1st to Maria Amalia (Archduchess of Austria). Most likely not a love match. The plates illustrate the various activities that accompanied the marriage, described in great detail in parallel texts in both French and Italian. Included are the tournaments, the costume balls, the fireworks, an elaborate pastoral play and a Chinese fair. There are probably even accurate portraits of the personalities who attended, their attire and even their coats of arms. The entire elaborate celebration was orchestrated by Ennemond Pettitot, the first architect of the Duchy. This was Bodoni's first major book after his appointement to head the Stamperia Reale in Parma. To execute a publication grand enough for the global stage, Bodoni integrated the ordered, harmonious neoclassical draftsmanship of court architect Ennemond Alexandre Petitot with the historical texts drafted by scholar Paolo Maria Paciaudi. The accompanying suite of plates, particularly the monumental and action-packed jousting amphitheater scene, stand as a triumph of 18th-century engraving. Cigognara 1325. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing