Ludovico Moscardo Sold at Auction Prices

MOSCARDO, LUDOVICO.

Note overo Memorie del museo de Ludovico Moscardo nobile veronese, academico filarmonico, dal medesimo descritte, et in tre libri distinte. Nel primi si discorre delle cose antiche, le quali in detto museo si trouano. Padua: Paolo Frambotti, 1656. [18], 306, [13] pp. Additional engraved title, and with 113 engravings in text. Folio (298 x 198 mm). Period full brown calf, rebacked, gilt-lettered spine label. Old dampstain thoughout text, mostly light, covers stained around extremities. First edition of this illustrated catalogue of Count Moscardo's natural history collection. "A celebrated and much-visited collection particularly rich in antiquarian objects was that of Ludovico Moscardo, a nobleman of Verona. The collection included most of the earlier Calceolari collection and was visited by such worthies as John Ray (in 1663), Gilbert Burney (in 1685), and Mission (in 1687). The catalogue is divided into three parts: Book I concerns artificial rarities, e.g., inscriptions, amulets, and statuary; Book II concerns minerals, rocks, earths and the like; while Book III describes living animals and plants. The marginal notations of Moscardo's sources suggest an extensive up-to-date library was at his disposal, although much of the classification is based upon the works of Pliny and dioscorides" (Jahn, The Lying Stones, pp 165-66). Balsinger (The Kunst-und Wunderkammern, p 331) noted that this "account and drawings of more important pieces" in Moscardo's museum is "somewhat rare" (actually repeating Murray's exact assessment). Grinke, From Wunderkammer to Museum, 23 (1672 ed.); Murray, II, p 154; Nissen ZBI, 2898; Sinkankas, Gemology, 4611; Wilson, The History of Mineral Collecting, p 218. Provenance: Melvin Edward Jahn (bookplate). See illustration.