Italy.- Rome.- Piranesi (Giovanni Battista) Della

Italy.- Rome.- Piranesi (Giovanni Battista) Della Magnificenza ed Architettura de' Romani, plates only, no text, engraved pictorial title in Italian, without title in Latin and portrait of Pope Clement XIII but with dedication leaf at end and 38 engraved plates, 11 double-page and one double-page & folding, with 3 additional unnumbered double-page plates, title and some plates with horizontal crease from folding, 1761; Osservazioni...sopra la lettre de M. Mariette..., engraved pictorial title, 3 engraved head-pieces, 2 tail-pieces, a full-page illustration and 9 engraved plates, 6 double-page, 1765, together 2 works in 1 vol., excellent impressions on thick laid paper, water-staining to outer margin/corner of title and some plates (mostly first work), modern half morocco, uncut, cloth boards a little faded and stained, folio, Rome

⁂ Piranesi's lavish and erudite contribution to the Graeco-Roman debate of the period, where he illustrates the decorative inventions of the Romans, and outlines his theories regarding the originality of Italy over Greece.