FRANCESCO BECATTINI (1743 - 1813)

Storia politica, filosofica e naturale del regno di Svezia sino a tutto il secolo XVIII. E incoronazione del regnate Gustavo IV. Venezia, presso Antonio Zatta qu: Giacomo, 1802


§ 8vo (12x20x2 / x2 / x3 / x5cm.). I- VIII, 292 pp. (*1-4, A-R1-8, S1-10; II- 246 of 248 (recte 242 of 244, pp. 1-2 (blank?) missing, numbering jumps from 224 to 229), last leaf blank missing (*1-4, A2-8 (A1 missing, blank), B-O1-8, P1-9) (P10 missing, blank). III- VIII, 284 pp. (*1-4, A-R1-8, S1-6). IV- VIII, 390 pp. (*1-4, A-V1-8, X1-5, (numbering, text and catchword continuous, X6 or X6-8 apparently eliminated by the printer), Y-Z1-8, Aa1-8, Bb1-6). 4 engraved frontispieces, 1 folding table, 2 large engraved folding maps, 2 large engraved folding plates. Publisher’s yellow wrappers, paper label with title on spines. scattered unimportant foxing. Exceptional copy, uncut, vols. II-IV unopened. A gorgeous eight volumes- set in pristine conditions.

Polygrapher, journalist and publicist of Florentine origin, Francesco Becattini is one of the most curious characters among the Italian publishers actives at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A very prolific biographer and historian, he cultivated anti-dyspotic ideals throughout his life - despising the work of the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo d'Asburgo Lorena (1747-1792) - although openly condemning the French Revolution, and at the same time showing a sincere interest in figures such as Gustavo III (1746-1792), one of the greatest examples of enlightened despot. To the latter Becattini dedicated his Storia del regno e della vita di Gustavo III re di Svezia (Venezia, Antonio Zatta e figli, 1792-3,), of which the present, political, philosophical and natural history constitutes a second, updated and enriched edition; Undoubtedly the enormous amount of Becattini’s contributions contain considerable sources from the courtly environment, privileged witnesses for the reconstruction of political dynamics within the European courts of otherwise very complex interpretation.
A beautiful copy of a very rare work.
Ref. M. A. Morelli Timpanaro, Su Francesco Becattini (1743-1813), di professione poligrafo, in Archivio Storico Italiano, CXLIX,2 (1991), pp. 279-374