BOSIO, Antonio Lot n° 28

Roma subterranea novissima in qua post Antonium Bosium antesignanum Rome, Blasii Diversini and Zanobii Masotti, 1651 THE CATACOMBS OF ROME: FIRST DEPICTIONS OF AN UNDERGROUND WORLD OF ANCIENT PAINTINGS AND OBJECTS. First Latin translation by Father Paul Aringhi, priest of the Oratory 2 volumes folio (414 x 268mm). Engraved vignettes, initials, headbands, tailpieces, fleurons, numerous woodcut figures and inscriptions in the text. Titles printed in red and black, text in two columns. COLLATION: (I): π4 ++6 1-3A-Z4 4A-M4; (II): π6 1-3A-Z4 4A-X4 a-c4 (last f. blank) ILLUSTRATION: (I): a frontispiece, a folding plan, 92 single full-page plates; (II): a frontispiece, 122 single full-page plates (one out of collation), a half-page plate, seven double plates including a plan CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Soft vellum, binding, old titling in ink on spine. Traces of use to binding. Stamp marks on the false titles, a few reinforced leaves, tears without missing on ff. 4D4 (I) and 2M2 (II), marginal browning on ff. X3 and X4 (II). Antonio Bosio, born in Malta around 1576, was the precursor of studies on subterranean Rome. He first descended into the galleries of a cemetery on the Via Ardeatine on December 10, 1593. For the next thirty-six years, he explored all of Rome's underground passages, even spending days and nights in them without returning to the surface. With pencil in hand, he noted inscriptions and drew paintings to describe, in topographical order, the cemeteries and objects discovered. He died in 1629, leaving two volumes of handwritten notes, each containing over a thousand pages, to the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome. His work was published posthumously, in Italian, in 1632-1635. This work lists some thirty cemeteries, refers to the martyrs and to the care given by Christians to burying their bodies. It draws on topographical surveys and ancient books to explain the meaning of the paintings found during excavations. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Brunet I, col. 1124 -- Berlin Kat. 1859 (under the name Aringhi) -- Cicognara 3585