Etruscology. GUARNACCI. Origini Italiche o siano

Etruscology. GUARNACCI, Mario. Origini Italiche o siano Memorie istorico-etrusche sopra l'antichissimo Regno d'Italia, e sopra i di lei primi abitatori nei secoli più remoti. Roma, Paolo Giunchi, provisore di libri della Biblioteca Vaticana, 1785-1787
3 vols. in 4to, 240x180 mm; contemporary full vellum binding, gilt titles on labels on spinesl. Polychrome sprayed edges. Titlepage in red and black. Vignettes engraved on copper on titlepages. Pp. [4], XXXI, [1], 375, [1]; pp. VIII, 328; IV, 320. 2 plates engraved on copper o. t., which of one of them are folded on the first volume; 26 plates engraved on copper o. t., which of 25 of them are folded on the second volume. A total of 28 plates engraved on copper which of 27 of them are folded. Woodcut initial letters, headpieces and endpieces. Slight but spread foxing on all the three volumes. Nice copy.
Condition Report: Valuable edition of the most famous work of Guarnacci, rare to find complete with the three volumes. His sincere passion for antiquity in addition to fruitful archaeological explorations, also translated into profound and erudite studies that wanted to demonstrate the Etruscan primacy in the civilization of the ancient world. It is a very erudite work on the mythical and historical origins of the peoples who first lived in the Italian peninsula, peoples that the author causes to descend from the Etruscans, whose he analyzes language, coins, arts and sciences. The author wanted to show that the arts and sciences had not been introduced, as was commonly thought, in Italy from Greece, but vice versa. Guarnacci also reproaches the Romans for their work of erasing even Etruscan memories, especially for the failure to recognize the debt of civilization contracted with the ancient Italic people from which they derived studies, laws, arts, monuments and rites. Guarnacci therefore wants to show that the civilization of Greece and that of Rome would be daughters of Etruscan civilization. The thesis initially found many supporters and also many opponents, slowly enthusiasts remained few. The Etruscan Academy of Cortona, an Etruscan city, immediately accepted Guarnacci's thesis and named it his lucomone. Guarnacci constituted an important collection of archaeological finds and a library of seventy thousand works.