Mirri, L., Vestigia delle terme di Tito e loro interni pitture. Nice series with engr. title in colors, engr. dedication sheet with colored crest and 59 numb. colored copperplates (52 double-page, 7 folding) by M. Carloni after drawings by F. Smuglewicz and V. Brenna as well as with 7 additional orig. watercolors by F. Smuglewicz . Rome. L. Mirri 1776. Contemp. calf with rich gilt tooling, broad arabesque gilt-tooled border on boards as well as gilt inside borders. Oblong imperial folio.

Millard Coll. 130. - Cicognara 3796: "grandissimo volume". - Ornamentstich-Slg. Bln. 3950. - UCBA II, 1386 and I, 231. - First edition. - Rare increased de-luxe edition of the extraordinarily endowed series of large-sized plates (size of sheet ca. 64,5 : 72,5 cm) with the famous wall and ceiling paintings as well as grotesques and ornaments of the Titus Baths in Rome. The engr. title sheet shows a nice outside view of the bath with figurative decoration, among the plates are also 2 footprints of the bath. 25 plates with ceiling decorations, 32 further plates with the most important scenes from the wall paintings with carefully executing grotesques borders.
The magnificently colored series was increased in this copy by 7 additional orig. watercolors by Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745-1807), which are extraordinarily rare. Only few collections (among them the Bibliotheca Hertzina in Rome, the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg) own orig. drawings by the artist. Smuglewicz (1745-1807) was a Polish-Lithuanian painter and drawer, who was active in Rome between 1763 and 1785. The Florence born architect and decorator Vincenzo Brenna (1745-1820) was, just like Smuglewicz, commissioned by the antiquarian and art dealer Mirri to make drafts for the Titus Baths, which were later executed by the engraver Marco Carloni (1742-96).
"The publisher of this book, Ludovico Mirri, obtained the permit to excavate the site of the baths of Titus on the Esquiline hill, hired the team of artists to survey, draw, and engrave the excavated rooms, and published their findings. The publication is part of the intense interest in the second half of the eighteenth century in secular antiquities, avoiding temples in favor of baths and residential sites" (Millard). - " - The same year Mirri released a scientific commentary on the plates by G. Carletti.
Slightly soiled and stained in places of margins, with waterstains in places of upper margin, dedication leaf with small mended marginal tear, with small squeezemarks in places of lower margin. Nice untrimmed copy on strong paper in contemp. binding.

First edition. - Rare increased de-luxe edition of the extraordinarily endowed series of large-sized plates. With engr. title in colors, engr. dedication sheet with colored crest and 59 numb. colored copperplates (52 double-page, 7 folding) by M. Carloni after drawings by F. Smuglewicz and V. Brenna as well as with 7 additional orig. watercolors by F. Smuglewicz. Contemp. calf with rich gilt tooling, broad arabesque gilt-tooled border on boards as well as gilt inside borders. The magnificently colored series was increased in this copy by 7 additional orig. watercolors by Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745-1807), which are extraordinarily rare. Only few collections (among them the Bibliotheca Hertzina in Rome, the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg) own orig. drawings by the artist. - Slightly soiled and stained in places of margins, with waterstains in places of upper margin, dedication leaf with small mended marginal tear, with small squeezemarks in places of lower margin. Nice untrimmed copy on strong paper in contemp. binding.