Roma antica, e moderna: o sia Nuova descrizione di tutti gl' edifizj antichi, e moderni sagri, e profani della città di Roma: co' nomi degl' autori di tutte le opere di architettura, scultura, e pittura ... : Una relazione della presente corte di Roma de' suoi ministri, cogregazioni, e tribunali, e la cronologia de' re, consoli, imperadori e pontefici Romani: con duecento e piu figure in rame. Il tutto cavato dal Baronio, Bosio, Nardini, Grevio, ed altri classici autori. Tomo primo[-terzo]

Rome:: A spese di Niccola Roisecco, 1765. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in three uniform bindings of contemporary patterned paste-paper over cartoncino boards. wear to extremities and spines. Internally this is as close to an immaculate set as I have seen, with some deckled edges preserved. The text is bright and clean throughout. The folding engravings are crisp.

The three volumes are illustrated with an engraved frontispiece (in Vol. I), numerous engraved illustrations in the text, a folding table, and 39 folding engraved illustrations of architectural monuments and sculpture. This set is complete with all engravings called for by Rossetti. Sets such as this, with all three volumes complete and with all plates, bound in their original bindings, are rare on the market. Excellent. A beautiful three-volume set, describing and illustrating the ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque monuments and buildings of Rome. This publication marks the culmination of a long series of developments in illustrated guides to Rome.

Beginning with the guidebooks produced by Girolamo Franzini and his heirs in the late 16th-century, pilgrims and tourists to the once-again-thriving Eternal City could purchase increasingly more accurate guidebooks to the ancient and modern marvels of Rome.

In the late-17th century, building on the work of Pompilio Totti, Michelangelo and Piervicenzo de Rossi published their "Descrizione di Roma". In subsequent editions, the "Descrizione" grew to include the redacted works of various learned authorities. The present three-volume production, the third to be published by Gregorio Roisecco, is based on the De Rossi edition of 1727 but has expanded to include a third volume.

The work comprises two and a half centuries of scholarship. Some of the significant authorities whose works were consulted, quoted, and extracted for this comprehensive guide include: Bartolomeo Marliani (d. 1560), Onofrio Panvinio (1529-1568), Alessandro Donati (1584-1640); Famiano Nardini (d. 1661); Cesare Baronio (1538-1607); Alfonso Chacón (1540-1599), Antonio Bosio (1575-1629) and Ottavio Panciroli (16th c.).