Rare, first edition of this funeral oration for Lorenzo de Medici, the greatest art patron of the Renaissance, delivered in Naples by a Sicilian Archbishop. More
Rare first and only edition of this illustrated funeral book recording the ceremonies for Pope Paul V (1550-1621) held in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, with a fine suite of full-page engravings of ephemeral sculpture and architecture, including a series of 16 sculptures of Virtues by the great Gian Lorenzo... More
Second edition of Aleotti's Italian translation of Hero's Pneumatics, and like the author's related title on automata, of interest for 17th-century theatrical machinery and festival productions. The mechanical wonders of the school of Alexandria gave the Renaissance Vitruvian architect engineer the sources he needed, for example, for garden automata; for... More
Scarce first edition of this curious funeral fête for Carlos II, generally regarded by posterity as the most stupid and ineffective of the Hapsburg kings of Spain, whose reign (1665-1700) saw the utter dismemberment of the kingdom by Louis XIV. Needless to say, this is not how he is regarded..... More
Rare fete book celebrating the nuptials of Philip V of Spain, the Founder of the Bourbon dynasty, and Elizabeth Farnese, at Parma Cathedral in September of 1714. Arranged by the Vatican after the death of Philip's first wife, Maria Louisa of Savoy, the marriage was of considerable political importance, and... More
First edition of a sumptuous festival book commemorating the inauguration of HRE Charles VI in 1717 as Count of Flanders, featuring an allegorical frontispiece and 6 large folding plates, including four engravings of the extravagant fireworks displays that followed the ceremony. Graet’s text provides a meticulous day-by-day account of the... More
Extremely rare first and sole edition of this Mallorcan festival book commemorating the festivities held in Palma on the occasion of Charles IV’s accession to the throne. The description, with its careful lists of the noblemen involved, constitutes a snapshot of Mallorcan society at the end of the eighteenth century..... More
Extremely rare sole edition of two German vaudeville songs satirizing the society-wide obsession with the yoyo, a toy which was popularized during the French Revolution, and subsequently became as ubiquitous across Europe as the Rubik’s cube in more recent times. Although images of it appear on ancient Greek vases, Western..... More
Highly finished preparatory design for a fresco or tapestry connected to the Albani family, whose coat of arms appears under the left-hand arch crowned with a cardinal's hat. Under the central arch of the drawing, preceded by a palafreniero, four servants in blue and white livery carry a red baldacchino... More
Rare, illustrated collection of nine ephemeral fête programs documenting three generations of royal entries into Barcelona: Charles III in 1783, his son Charles IV in 1802, and grandson Ferdinand VII in 1827. This group of pamphlets affords a comparison between royal entries staged before and after the French occupation of... More
![[Painted theater or festival decoration]. THEATER DECORATION, / / ANONYMOUS, FESTIVAL DECORATION.](/pictures/thumb/22.jpg?v=1517517166)
Intriguing over-life-size painting of a female allegorical sculpture set in an architectural niche, a rare surviving example of a type of ephemeral decoration most closely associated with the scenography of the neoclassical theater and with the (often elaborate) temporary festival structures especially popular in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth... More