Maometto, legislatore degli Arabi e fondatore dell'Impero musulmano. by MUHAMMAD - BACCANTI, Alberto - 1791: Poema.

Casalmaggiore: Fratelli Bizzarri,, 1791. Epic biographical poem with portraits of the Prophet First and only edition of this epic poem in Italian recounting the life of Muhammad, presenting the Prophet favourably as a masterly leader and statesman. The poem is in 12 cantos of ottava rima, each canto illustrated with a full-page engraved plate, in addition to two frontispiece portraits of the author and of Muhammad astride a rampant horse, all after original paintings by Paolo Araldi. Baccanti explains in his foreword that he sought to characterise the Prophet as a statesman and general of "rare talents" who, regardless of the truth of the religion he founded, succeeded in creating a unified Arabian caliphate that laid the foundation for the rise of the Ottoman Empire: a contrast to other European works portraying him as "an odious impostor and a man of most dissolute morals" (our translation). The plates depict Muhammad in the stages of his prophecy: ascending with the archangel Gabriel to heaven (laylat al-mi'raj), preaching to his first followers in Mecca, leading his armies to battle and uniting the disparate tribes under his leadership. "Scholars of the Enlightenment particularly struggled with dual impulses towards Muhammad's depiction, aspiring both to a more historically-based, objective image of the Prophet, yet also perpetuating the public appetite for romantic, exotic details" (Shalem, p. 3). Baccanti's work charmingly perpetrates the usual picturesque anachronisms, presenting Muhammad in contemporary Turkish dress and preaching in Ottoman interiors, and leading his troops against a conspicuously European fortress. 2 volumes in one, quarto (235 x 172 mm). Near-contemporary half sheep vellum, twin morocco labels lettered in gilt and manuscript shelf-mark label to spine, marbled sides, edges speckled blue. With 2 engraved portrait frontispieces and 12 similar numbered plates after Paolo Araldi, vignettes to title pages. Complete with the half-titles and imprimatur leaf. Boards slightly rubbed with light wear along edges, labels a little chipped with minimal loss of lettering, very sporadic faint soiling, isolated portions of minor dampstaining to head of gutter. A very good copy. Not in Atabey, Blackmer, Burrell or the Arcadian Library. Avinoam Shalem (ed.), Constructing the Image of Muhammad in Europe, 2013.