Festival Book. Adunanza de' pastori arcadi della colonia Ferrrarese convocata da Api Sologorgeo.

In 4to. 224 x 165 mm. Contemporary sewing binding. Pp. 76 including Half-title and titlepage. Each page within double rule, woodcut ornament. 4 folded engraved plates by Alessandro and Agostino Dalla Via by Antonio Lombardo drawing, 1 folded printed schematic table and two woodcut ornamental figures on full page in the text. Two small restorations in the creases of plates, good copy with wide margins.

Very rare first edition. Magnificent festival book with engravings by Alessandro and Agostino Dalla Via. The work bears witness to the festive gathering of the literati of Arcadia, “in occasione della laurea presa in ambe le leggi nella insigne sua patria Urbino dall'eccellenza del signor d. Annibale Albani acclamato pastore Poliarco Taigetide”. Beautiful and unusual are the four folded plates illustrating the open-air amphitheatre with the assembled crowd present and scenes from the cantatas, including a hillside setting and one depicting underground caves. The work is composed in honour of the young Annibale Albani, 1682-1715, nephew of Clement XI and Cardinal since 1712, who had graduated in ‘utroque iure’ from the University of Urbino the previous year. It includes extensive cantatas, eglogues and many sonnets composed by members of the Ferrara Arcadian Colony whose names appear on pages 72-73. Under the pseudonym ‘Api Sologorgeo’ hides the Marquis Scipione Sacrati Giraldi. The first platel, depicting the large audience, is reproduced in plate XXI of the book on “Feste popolari e di corte” (Popular and Court Festivals), published by the Museo Scala in 1968.