La Libreria de' Volpi, e la Stamperia Cominiana illustrate con utili e curiose annotazioni. Avvertenze necessarie e profittevoli a' Bibliotecarj, e agli Amatori de' buoni libri. Opera di don Gaetano Volpi

BOUND WITH THE VERY SCARCE CATALOGUE OF BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT THE STAMPERIA COMINIANA IN 1744

(bound with:)

COMINO, Giuseppe (d. 1756 ca.). Catalogo de' libri Cominiani ancora vendibili, co' legittimi loro prezzi a ragion di pronti contanti: a diversi de' quali in questa novella impressione si sono aggiunte alcune osservazioni. At the end: Padua, Giuseppe Comino, 1744.

Two works in one volume, 8vo (178x113 mm). I: XIV, [2], 592, [2 of 4: lacking the last blank leaf] pp. With the engraved printer's device on the title page and the Volpi's engraved coat-of-arms on the last page; II: XXIV pp. Contemporary half vellum, double lettering piece on spine for title and date, sprinkled edges. Some occasional marginal foxing, but a very good copy.

Very rare catalogue privately printed by Gaetano Volpi, at his own expenses, in only 200 copies, as he himself states in the preface.

The first part of the volume contains the description of the books that formed the private library of the Volpi family. The most consistent part is that gathered by Giovanni Domenico Volpi, Giovanni Antonio's and Gaetano's father. On the more than 4000 volumes listed, are also given significant historical and critical notes. The library was sold to the Venetian abbot Celotti (cf. S. Nicolini, Bibliografia degli antichi cataloghi a stampa di biblioteche italiane, Florence, 1954, no. 44).

From p. 395 begins the second part, containing the chronological catalogue of all the books printed by the Spamperia Cominiana from 1717 to 1756, including the ones which were sold out. At the end, it is found the catalogue, with prices, of the volumes which were available for sale in the Stamperia Cominiana in the year 1744. This small commercial catalogue is sometimes bound together with La Libreria de' Volpi, but is not in fact called for in F. Federici's collation (Annali della Tipografia Volpi-Cominiana, Padua, 1809).

The very interesting preface by Gaetano Volpi gives an account of the major private book collections that at the time were lying neglected in Padua and would have deserved a printed catalogue, i.e. those of Giovanni Poleni, Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Antonio Vallisnieri, and Guglielmo Camposanpiero. According to Volpi, a printed catalogue is even more important in the case of a private library, which may end up dispersed after the collector's death, than for public libraries. In this respect, Volpi quotes many examples of important private libraries of the past, of which no trace has remained, eg those of Aldo Manuzio the Younger, Vincenzo Pinelli, Agostino Baldo, and Piero Montagnana.

A true bibliophile, Volpi shows furthermore a fine knowledge of the causes that make a book rare: “La rarità di alcuni Libri può nascere da diverse cagioni; cioè dalla pochezza degli esemplari impressine; (come è avvenuto nel presente) dalla singolarità dell'edizioni; dal frequente uso fattone; lo che accadde al rarissimo Virgilio Aldino in 8. del 1501, il Primo Libro stampato nel carattere detto Corsivo, da Aldo inventato: alle Pistole Famigliari di Cicerone d'ottime antiche stampe, e a parecchi altri sì fatti Libri, malmenati e distrutti da' fanciulli nelle scuole: e finalmente dalla curiosità delle materie in essi trattate, che stimola i Leggitori a provvedersene, e ad intercettarli” (pp. V-VI).

In the year 1717 the two brothers Giovanni Antonio and Gaetano Volpi founded a private press in their own house in Padua, which in the following years became one of the most prestigious in Italy. To run the typography as technical director, was called the printer Giuseppe Comino who, between 1717 and 1756, printed more than 200 editions on behalf of the Volpi brothers. The latter, on their part, were responsible of the choice of the texts and of their correctness. The press was sold by the Volpis in 1758 to Angelo Comino, Giuseppe's son, who remained in charge until 1782 (cf. G. Aliprandi, La stamperia Volpi-Cominiana di Padova, in: “Libri e stampatori in Padova”, Padua, 1959, pp. 11-31; see also Id., La tipografia Volpi-Cominiana di Padova (1717-1781), in: “Gutenberg Jahrbuch”, XXXIV, 1959, pp. 127-134).

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\TO0E\007136 and IT\ICCU\VIAE\003141; Bigmore & Wyman, III, p. 54; Brunet, V, 1351; Peignot, pp. 131-132; Horne, II, pp. 732-733.

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