[Counterfeit First Edition] Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino, da Lui Medesemo Scritta, .

Cellini, Benvenuto

Verlag: Bartolini [Pietro Martello, who published the true first, is credited], Firenze allegedly [Colonia is printed, since that was the place given in the first edition], 1792

Beschreibung

Cellini's picaresque and entertaining autobiography was one of the relatively few books to generate a counterfeit of its first edition, as far as we know. We note that counterfeit is different from pirated, which were ubiquitous in the eighteenth century and earlier. But as a counterfeit, the actual publisher, Bartolini, didn't achieve a very good semblance, in our view, with the font and typography easily distinguishable even on the title page without too close an examination, with the paper type also obviously not the same, and one can go on and on, but no need. Still a true antiquarian edition of the classic, and with the added interest of having been a counterfeiting attempt, if inept at that. Perhaps it represents a fine example of just how challenging it is to counterfeit a book, as opposed to a painting, since a book has so many more components that can trip up the counterfeiter, from finding a sufficient stock of a paper used years, not to mention decades or centuries earlier, to match perfectly the various letters in shape and size, to match inks, etc. etc. N.d., 1798. 4to. 27.5 by 20 cm. xvi, 318 pp. The cover is rough, with many stains, tearing, chipping of the paper surface, a small shadow of a label now gone on the spine, etc. The cover is also holding to the text block tentatively. The leaves have some foxing scattered, but while the occasional fox mark or other stain can be not small or light, most pages are clean or on the clean side, and the text overall reads as fairly clean. Limp cover. Paper pastedown, meant to look like vellum, on limp card.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 20487

Bibliografische Details

• Titel: [Counterfeit First Edition] Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino, da Lui Medesemo Scritta, .
• Verlag: Bartolini [Pietro Martello, who published the true first, is credited], Firenze allegedly [Colonia is printed, since that was the place given in the first edition]
• Erscheinungsjahr: 1792
• Auflage: Counterfeit First Edition.
• Zustand: Good Plus
• Verkäuferkataloge:
  • Italian Literature
  • Biography