Remarks on the Principal Paintings found in the subterranean city of Herculaneum

Read before the Royal Society on January 26, 1749, "Remarks on the Principal Paintings found in the subterranean city of Herculaneum, and at present in the Possession of the King of Naples; by ____ Blondeau Esq; communicated by Tho. Stack, M. D. & F. R. S.", contains descriptions of paintings uncovered by the excavations of the destroyed city of Herculaneum. Thirty-two pictures are described, of which four are in very good condition and thoroughly described while the other 28 are briefly described.

Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D. It is located in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae, Boscoreal and Oplontis, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which buried it in superheated pyroclastic material. It is also famous as one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in almost its original splendor, because unlike Pompeii, its burial was so deep as to ensure the building's upper stories remained intact, and the hotter ash preserved wooden household objects (beds, doors etc.) and even food. Moreover Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii with an extraordinary density of fine houses, with far more lavish use of colored marble cladding. The discovery in recent years of some 300 skeletons along the sea shore came as a surprise since it was known that the town itself had been largely evacuated. [Wikipedia]

The item is a First Edition, extracted and disbound from The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 46, For the Year 1749, pages 14-21. This volume of the transactions was published in London in 1750. The disbound item is approximately 6 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches. The pages are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The item is in good condition.

The illustration accompanying this description shows the first page of the paper.