Del Regno d’Italia sotto i Barbari. Epitome del Conte & Cavalier Gran Croce D. Emanuel Tesauro. Con le Annotationi Dell’ Abate D. Valeriano Castiglione. Torino: Per Bartolomeo Zavatta, 1664 [colophon 1663]. 3 parts in 1 volume, folio, bound in contemporary full leather with gilt lettering to spine, red painted edges. [4]f including half-title, allegorical frontispiece and dedication leaf + 12p + [2] + pp15-120; pp123-225 + [1] + 138p with notes by Abbate Valeriano Castiglione + [2]p index of the Germanic kings of Italy + [26]p general index + [2]p with colophon & list of engraved illustrations; an engraved title and an allegorical frontispiece preceding parts 2 & 3. With engraved portrait of the author in his 73rd year, 58 engraved portraits of Germanic kings of Italy within elaborate baroque ornamental borders, and 3 double-page engraved maps of Sweden, Lombardy, and Piedmont. Large ornamental initials; elaborate armorial initials serving as tail pieces. First edition of the most ambitious baroque historical interpretation of the early barbarian kingdoms of Italy spanning from the 5th century Visgothic invasion under Alaric to the 11th century. The work is divided into 3 sections: (1) the post-Roman interim period of Germanic caretaker kings and their Gothic successors; (2) the Lombard kings; (3) and the Frankish rulers and later kings descending from the Lombards. This book was the principal source for Alessandro Manzoni’s tragedy Adelchi (1822), about the son of the last Lombard king Desiderius. Emanuele Tesauro (1592-1675) was a polymath and figure of major importance in the literary culture of late seventeenth-century Italy. He was court historian to the book’s dedicatee, Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy (1634-75), whose extravagance as a patron of arts and letters is represented in the grandiosity of this tome. The illustrations in the book were engraved by the Lyonese artist J. J. Thourneysen after designs by the French painter Charles Claude Dauphin (Carolus Delphinus; 1620-77) and by the Flemish Jan Miel (1599-1663), both of whom came to Turin to serve the Savoy court. Binding worn and cracked in places, particularly the extremities of the spine, showing some worm damage, pages slightly wormed but otherwise well preserved, hinges tender, joints starting. A very good copy overall.
