GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI. GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, LE ANTICHITÀ ROMANE, Rome 1756, second state, 4 vols, provenance Horace Walpole, Gösta Stenman.

PIRANESI, GIOVANNI BAPTISTA. Le antichità Romane (The Antiquities of Rome), Rome, Nella Stamperia di Angelo Rotili nel Palazzo de' Massimi, Bouchard & Gavier, 1756. Second state after the removal of 'Lord Charlemont' dedication. Imperial folio (c. 533x365 mm., 540x390 binding). With 218 engraved plates, many double-page (complete). Text and engravings on thick paper. Vol. I.: Engraved frontispiece portrait of Piranesi by Polanzani dated 1750, printed title, engraved double-page dedication plate with text 'Utilitati Publicae' (second state after the removal of 'Lord Charlemont' dedication). Piranesi's text and 44 engraved plates plus 1 map, of which 5 are double-page, 1 large folding plate on two sheets, 2 folding plates on 1 sheet and 30 single page plates with two images. Vol. II: Engraved title, engraved double-page frontispiece and engraved list of subjects and 60 engraved plates, numbered I - LXIII (including title, frontispiece and list of subjects). Vol. III: Engraved title and engraved double-page frontispiece and 52 plates, numbered I - LIV (including title and frontispiece). Vol. IV: Engraved title, engraved double-page frontispiece and engraved list of subjects and 57 plates. Vol. I with stain to outer edges only with minor affect to margin of text and plates, some foxing and spotting. Vol. II some worming to lower margins, some spotting and browning, mostly marginal. Vol. III. Double page engraving with some browning to upper margin slightly affecting upper part of image. Some browning to centrefold to some plates. Vol. IV. Some slight spotting. Contemporary full calf bindings, worn and rubbed, some inner joints beginning to split, gilt spines in eight compartments and red title labels, some damages to spine and corners. The inside of the board with bookplate of Horace Walpole and Gösta Stenman together with small private library note (A25). Later manuscript notes of Rufford Abbey library (vol. I) and notes in pencil about Walpole. The bookplate of Stenman was executed by the painter Helene Schjerfbeck. 4 volumes. Hind, pp. 83-84. FIRST EDITION, second state after the removal of 'Lord Charlemont' dedication. With the two letters to Charlemont Avviso al publico dated 25 August 1756 and A Milord Febbraio 1757. This copy also with the rare Imprimatur leaf (†2) bound after the Prefazione with the list of published titles by Piranesi to the verso; the Imprimatur is dated '25 Gennaro 1756'. Piranesi's publications listed on the verso of the leaf (and available at the same booksellers 'Bouchard e Gravier') consist of the Vedute di Roma, the Prospettive... con varii grotteschi, the Carceri, the Vedute di Antichita Romane and the Trofei. This monumental work depicts archaeological monuments and sites, sepulchres, ancient bridges, and baths, and it differs from previous work by its concern with the construction techniques of antiquity. Piranesi's sense of the grandeur and melancholy of the ruins gives the images a dramatic impact. Roman architecture and ruins in more than 200 prints. Both double-page engravings (title) in vol. I and III are views of "Via Appia" in Rome. Provenance: Horace Walpole (1717-1797), English writer, and collector known for one of the earliest literary horror stories, The Castle of Otranto (1764), Rufford Abbey Library. A vast library which belonged to the Savile Family. The collections were sold at the Abbey in Nottinghamshire in 1938 and took place over ten days; Famous Finnish-Swedish art dealer Gösta Stenman (1888-1947).