Storia distinta e curiosa del tabacco; concernente la sua scoperta, la introduzione in Europa, e la maniera de coltivarlo, conservarlo, e prepararlo, ec. Per servirsene, con alter ottime, ed utili osservazioni sopra il medesimo.
8vo. 84 pp., with typographical diagram in text. Bound in old patterned wrappers. Fore-edge of one leaf shaved, with loss of 1-2 letters per line; a few dark spots on one page, without loss; mild dampstains. Overall good.
First edition, second state, of this rare work on growing, curing, packaging and selling tobacco, written for the benefit of farmers in the Papal States who had two years earlier been given permission to cultivate it. Much of the information is based on methods of tobacco cultivation in Maryland and Virginia, although French and Persian methods are cited as well. Gavelli also details the process of manufacturing snuff in Italy, the prices of tobacco under the late monopoly, and the current rates for various types of tobacco in Amsterdam. A final section (pp. 67-76) covers the remedial virtues of tobacco, with the wise warning that the amount of tobacco used should be carefully watched, because “sopra l’uso, o l’abuso del Tabacco non si possono stabilire regole generali.”
* Arents III.816; Pritzel 3540.
Price: $1,250.00