Rossi's Book of Engravings of French Kings

Rossi's Book of Engravings of French Kings

Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi; Pietro Vansickleers. FRANCORUM REGUM SIMULACRA A PHARAMUNDO AD LUDOUICUM XIV FAUSTE REGNANTEM PER TEMPORUM SERIEM DISTRIBUTA. Rome: ex officina Io: Iacobi de Rubeis, 1686. Later quarter calf with gilt over textured purple boards, all edges speckled. With title page (deeply impressed), two folding plates with dedication and address to the reader, followed by 64 portraits in roundels engraved by Pietro Vansickleers mounted to rectos, each with cartouche identifying and offering a biography of the leader, with extra leaves with empty circular frame for additional portraits at the end (as originally printed). Text in Latin. OCLC 796190739.
11 x 8 1/4 in.
Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (Rome, 1627-1691) was a publisher, printer, and engraver who ran his family's prominent printing press until his death at the end of the 17th century. His plates, such as these portraits of French kings, are in the collection of the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1856-0614-87-94.
From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.
Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com
Condition Report: Boards scuffed, edgewear, corners rubbed, wear to tail of spine with cracking at joint; minor insect hole at spine with additional wormholes and trails at front endpapers and several leaves and plates, light to moderate toning and foxing throughout with offsetting, minor grime, light damp staining at corner of several leaves, small corner repair to one leaf, small loss to one leaf not impacting engraving; a well-bound collection of plates that is extremely rare outside of a handful of institutions.