8vo. 193x140 mm. Marbled boards binding. 32 pages composed as follows: title; 6 pp. of Leoni’s dedication to “ornatissimi cavalieri e gentilissime dame”; 22 pages of description in verses of the sleds’s race, 2 pp. with the list of the noblemen characters from Vicenza partecipating to the race; at the end 16 watercolored folded plates o.t. engraved on copper, with gilt and silver rises. Occasional foxing, good copy.
Extremely rare first Illustrated edition. This fascinating book of feasts was printed in very few copies, probably 30, intended for the participants in the carnival party in costume on sleds that took place in Vicenza in the winter of 1784: among these there are the representatives of the most eminent patrician families from Vicenza: Barbarani, Trissino, Verlate, Vello, Caldogne, Burri, Bissari, and others. The sleds are pulled over the snow by harnessed horses; a reference from 1 to 30 refers to the name of the passenger indicated in the index of the "most ornate knights". The bibliography of Melzi identifies as the author of this delightful work the noble Arnaldo Tornieri, who appears in the last plate on a sled attached to a large balloon. 1784 was the year of the first Italian aerostatic experiences and for this singular curiosity the book is quoted by Caproni-Bertarelli. The very animated plates are painted with lively contemporary hand colors and are embellished with gilt and silver rises. Only three specimen present in the Worldcat: alla Bibl. Civica Bertoliana of Vicenza, the British Library and the Bibl. Nationale of Paris.