«Merge Record #»«Title» - Susanne Schulz-Falster

A second edition was published in 1833 with a Meissen imprint.
Zaunmüller 65; uncommon, OCLC locates copies at UCLA, Colorado, New York Public Library and
London university.
75.
[VENICE.] A magnificent collection of forty Italian 'presentation' or festival books
issued towards the end of the eighteenth century, marking a high-point in Italian book
production, illustration and book-binding. $140000
This collection presents forty particularly splendid examples of 'presentation or festival
books, celebrating 'ingressi' and 'nozze'. These books of congratulatory verse were
produced magnificently, sparing no expense, with charming vignettes and fully decorated
engraved borders. Whereas in the earlier books only the title page was surrounded with a
decorative border, later productions increased the number from a few to up to twenty
different borders, repeated not in a haphazard but carefully orchestrated order. Unified
themes run through the series of borders, both in subject matter and in style. Similar
books had been produced already in the earlier part of the century, but these later
productions are of particular significance. Not only was ever greater emphasis placed on
artistic decoration, but two features emerged which 'may be proposed as distinctive
Venetian contributions to the modern history of the illustrated book: first the
comprehensive decoration of books through open, free-floating, figurative borders
enlivening every page, text as well as plate; and second, decorative paper bindings
especially created for individual books or editions.' (Robison, p. 353).
Most of the books contained in this collection are in their original highly decorative
publisher's binding, paper wrappers or boards, exactly the way they were issued. Most of
these are decorated with woodcuts or stencil-printed armorial designs or embossed
patterns. These bindings demonstrate the other distinctive Venetian contribution to book
history, 'the practice of preparing a distinctive binding for individual editions… which is
generally regarded a result of nineteenth century industrialisation. However, as can be
seen in the sample of the eighteenth century Venetian books, this practice of edition
binding began earlier'. 'These individual bindings were characteristically decorative. …
The Venetian designs had distinct sections for the front cover, the spine, and the back
cover. The cover designs always had borders framing reserved central areas. An
ornamental shield with the general monogram VV (Viva Venezia), a figurative vignette
appropriate to the family, or an ornamental shield with the specific arms or monogram of
the celebrant to whom the book was dedicated is often found on the lower cover. The
front cover, however, always had an ornamental shield containing the specific arms of
the celebrated nobleman for an ingresso, or in the case of a wedding, the arms of one of
both of the celebrating spouses.' (Robison p. 354).
In some cases more than one publication accompanied a given event. Cover designs were
re-used, with distinctive colour combinations. Binding designs were implemented in
varying degrees of lavishness, with the most extravagant embossed in gilt on card,
whereas the more 'learned' contribution appeared in a matching binding, but printed in
black or a single colour. There is one instance of the design being printed on silk, again
with the related binding in the same design but on paper.