4to (250 mm x 190 mm): viii + lxxviii, [2] leaves. With an etched title vignette on letterpress title page, representing a woman’s hand holding a man’s hand. Another vignette, on top of the dedication, with the arms of the Cattaneo Pallavicini family. Uncut. Bound in original Italian decorative paper boards. Excellent.

The first and only edition of a rare treatise in 17 chapters, dedicated to advising women on a wide range of topics including dress, beauty, physical and mental health, passion pursuit, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. The book does not particularly favor religion or intellectual pursuits, but highlights horseback riding, hunting, travel, music, and dance as means of maintaining beauty and achieving happiness. Chapter thirteen focuses on domestic pets, specifically lap dogs, and the hygienic issues that come with pet ownership.

The book is dedicated to Placidia Cattanea Pallavicini, Marquess of Mombaruzzo, a Genovese socialite, who, together with her husband Paolo Gerolamo V (1740-1785), a political activist and freemason, was responsible for squandering her family's wealth through gambling and travel.

This work, published anonymously, is listed in OCLC as authored by Tommaso Campestri. According to recent scholarship, it was in fact written by Giambattista Giovio (1748-1814), a member of the order of Saint Stephen and chamberlain of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

OCLC lists only one copy in the U.S.—at Princeton.

References: For the attribution to Giovio, see Ricaldone, La scrittura nascosta: donne di lettere e loro immagini tra Arcadia e Restaurazione (Paris, 1996), p. 70. Also see Mari, Venere celeste e Venere terrestre: l’amore nella letteratura italiana del Settecento (Modena, 1988), p. 191; Italienische Studien (Wien, 1993), p. 75. Not in Melzi or Gay-Lemonnyer.

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