Music. DUFORT. Trattato del ballo nobile.

In-8vo; mm. 170x110; 12 leaves, pp. 160 with engravings in the text; contemporary full vellum binding, title handwritten on back. Some leaves with slight browning. Good copy.

First edition of this rare treatise on dance. One of the very few works of the time that explains the various dances with the relative steps, of which it takes into consideration all the aspects: the position of the feet, the posture of the body, the different possible cadences of the same step in relation to the rhythm, the illustrations of ornament. In particular, a separate chapter is devoted to the minuet. The text is illustrated by 25 figures engraved on copper that explain the various positions and that are inserted in the text in correspondence with the practical explanation, making this volume easy to use even today. After having taught dance in various Italian cities, the French Dufort settled in Naples where he wrote this appreciated work dedicating it «all'eccellenza delle signore dame, e de' signori cavalieri napoletani». Sowell: “This book, one of the first in Italian to employ the stenochoregraphic dance notation of Beauchamp and Feuillet”. Derra de Moroda: “An important book on the dance of the time, giving the names of the steps in French and Italian, and very good descriptions”.