JUAN, de San Bernardo (ca. 1619--1685)
[Vida y milagros de Sta Rosalia. Italian. 1693]
Vita, e miracoli di Santa Rosalia vergine palermitana del P.M. Fr. Giovanni da S. Bernardo, ... Portata dal castigliano all'italiano da Pietro Mataplana, ... con aggiuntaui al fine vna sommaria relazione de' danni cagionati da' terremoti in Sicilia; ...
In Palermo (Place), per Agostino Epiro,, 1693.
[16], 280 p. ; 15.4 cm. (8º)

Printer's statement at foot of imprint: 'Imp. Termini V.G. Imp. Scoma P.'. Santa Rosalia is the patron saint of Palermo, Sicily, where she is revered for having saved the city from plague in the seventeenth century. Her remains are preserved in Palermo. The account of earthquakes in Sicily, pp. 231--280, has a drop-head title reading 'I Terremoti In Sicilia'. Soane visited Sicily between April and May 1779; the visit is discussed by Du Prey, who suggests that the purchase of this book may have been prompted by a passage in Patrick Brydone's A Tour through Sicily and Malta, 1773 being the traveller's guidebook of choice at the time (1775 ed., q.v.), in which Brydone describes his unsuccessful efforts to learn more about Santa Rosalia, whose tomb Soane visited with John Patteson and four others in 1 May 1779. See P. de la Ruffinière du Prey, John Soane's architectural education (London 1977), pp. 215--231.

Copy Notes Imperfect; wanting all after p. 230, i.e. the account of the Sicilian earthquakes. Inscribed in ink on half-title John Soan / Palermo with a final 'e' added to Soane's name after 1783. Some ink marginalia in an Italian hand. With a 'farsetta' titled D: Marforio frammento drammatico ..., 1748 (q.v.) stitched in at the end, evidently after the present work was bound, as it is stitched through the inner cartonnage cover.

Binding C17th cartonnage, spine-title lettered in ink in the Spanish style, with a secondary outer cover of vellum-covered cartonnage with spine-title similarly lettered in ink.

Reference Number 1353

Additional Names Mataplana, Pietro; Rosalia, Santa (1130--1166)