Morelli (Jacopo) Bibliotheca Maphaei Pinellii Veneti magno iam studio collecta, 6 vol., first edition, engraved portrait frontispiece of Maffeo Pinelli by Francesco Bartolozzi, large folding plate of the Pinelli papyrus in vol. III, and 5 plates of Egyptian and classical sculpture in vol. V, faint damp-staining lower fore-edge margin vol. 5 and occasionally to vol. 6, contemporary polished calf, gilt spines in compartments, spines slightly rubbed, some chips to heads and abrasions to extremities, vol. 1 upper joint cracked but holding, all edges yellow (variously faded), [Brunet III, 1899, 'fort recherché'; Peignot 118; Taylor, pp. 97-98], 8vo, Venice, Carlo Palese for Lorenzo Baseggio, 1787.

⁂ The Lisburne-Abbey-Hobson copy. 'Ce catalogue est un des meilleurs qui existent, tant par la valeur et le nombre des ouvrages curieux qui le composent, que part la manière dont il est rédigé, et par les notes savants dont l’a enrichi le célèbre M. Morelli.’ (Peignot). Maffeo Pinelli (1735-1785) was a translator, the director of the Doge’s press in Venice, and a book collector. The library was catalogued by Jacopo Morelli (Keeper of the Biblioteca Marciana), and was bought on en bloc by the London bookseller James Edwards and his associates Robson and Clark. It was then offered at auction in two London sales.

Provenance: Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne (1730-1800), Lord of the Admiralty; Major John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), English book collector and High Sheriff; Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), book auctioneer, book historian (particularly bindings) and bibliophile (bookplates).