MAFFEI,, Scipione (1675--1755)
[La Verona illustrata. Abridgments. 1771]
La Verona illustrata ridotta in compendio principalmente per uso de' forestieri con varie aggiunte. Premessa in ristretto la vita del Marchese Scipione Maffei. ...
In Verona (Place), nella Stamperia Moroni,, 1771.
2 vols ; 20.3 cm. (8º)
I: LI, [5], 176 p., [6] fold.pl.
II: 173, [7] p., [17] fold. pl.

An abridgment for travellers of Maffei's handsome four-part folio first published in 1732 (q.v.). See BAL, Early printed books, no. 1998.

Copy Notes The title pages to both volumes inscribed in ink J. Soane with the final "e" added later, and vol. I with the date 1779. The book was evidently purchased by Soane on his first visit to Verona in August 1779; see P. de la Ruffinière du Prey, John Soane's architectural education (New York and London 1977), pp. 254-5. On this or his second visit in May 1780 he also purchased a corpus of Gaetano Avesani's measured drawings of Michele Sanmichele's buildings in Verona (Drawer 44, Set 10) and made copies of Luigi Trezza's measured drawings of Michele's work (Drawer 45, Set 2). It seems quite clear that at this time Soane was considering publishing a book on Michele Sanmichele, or a 'plan upon Verona' as his friend Rowland Burdon wrote in 1780, of which the Bishop of Derry was the 'mover'. See A.T. Bolton, The portrait of Sir John Soane, p. 28 and P. de la Ruffiniere du Prey, John Soane: The making of an architect (1982), pp. 142, 161--3.

Binding C18th plain parchment.

Reference Number 2703