Bodoni. DE ROSSI. Epithalamia exoticis lingvis reddita.

Folio, 457x337 mm; Contemporary full leather binding, gilt ornaments and titles on the spine, gilt rules on the covers, marbled edges. Variant B. A total of 139 illustrations engraved by different artists based on Ferrari's drawings, 86 vignettes, 28 decorated initials and 25 tailpieces. Copy with wide margins.

Rare and magnificent first edition. This masterpiece of the Bodonian typography was published on the occasion of the wedding of Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy to Maria Adelaide Clotilde of Bourbon, sister of Louis XVI. The refined engravings are by Benigno Bossi, Domenico Cagnoni, Giuseppe Patrini, Giovanni Volpato, Domenico Muzzi, Louis Sommerau, Simon François Ravenet le jeune and others. Brooks: “For the decorative part it is a fundamental work containing 139 copperplates […] From the typographic side it is equally interesting for the exotic characters of which there are 26 different ones. It is, one might say, another typographical manual by Bodoni.” The 76 inscriptions in exotic languages accompanied by the Latin translation, each adorned with a vignette engraved with the emblem of the cities of Piedmont, are due to the well-known orientalist Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi. Giani: “la prima completa prova tipografica nella storia dei caratteri orientali di produzione europea.” [the first complete typographical proof in the history of oriental typefaces produced in Europe]. Updike: ““Such a book, issued in honour of the marriage of Marie Adelaide Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI, printed in Bodoni’s ‘first manner’ from old style types, is a masterpiece; really magnificent in its types, their arrangement, and the superb engraved decorations” From the Catalog of Bodonian editions of 1820 it can be seen, as Brooks notes, “che il libro più costoso è l’Epithalamia del 1775 e l’Homerus del 1808” ["that the most expensive book is the Epithalamia of 1775 and the Homerus of 1808]. . Brunet “Ce volume, une des plus belles productions des presses de Bodoni...” Brunet II, 1028; Brooks 70; Giani, Saggio, pp. 3-5; Updike p. 161.