![Esposizione Universale di Roma MCMXLII . XX . EF. Rome: Pizzi & Pizio for Commissariato Generale, [1939].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01601_0194_000(104641).jpg?w=1)
ROME, ESPOSIZIONE UNIVERSALE, 1942 (NOT HELD)
Esposizione Universale di Roma MCMXLII . XX . EF. Rome: Pizzi & Pizio for Commissariato Generale, [1939].
Details
Esposizione Universale di Roma MCMXLII . XX . EF. Rome: Pizzi & Pizio for Commissariato Generale, [1939].
Large 2o. 2 portraits, facsimile of letter from Mussolini, 9 full-page illustrations; 4 double-page illustrations, 3 in color; 14 color illustrations in text. Original red decorated cloth.
LIMITED EDITION, number 17 of 1,200 copies designated on the colophon, of which only a few apparently were distributed. The book was also issued in less-lavish, and much more common, quarto format. The international exhibition scheduled to be held in Rome in 1942 was intended as a glorification of the ruling Fascist regime, and although it was never to take place this most impressive publication is a vivid record of what was intended by Mussolini and by the exhibitions organisers. By 1939 work had already started on the construction of a new E.U.R. suburb of Rome, with model housing and purpose-built exhibition buildings ; the general architectural scheme was devised by a committee headed by Marcello Piacentini, while the best individual building was the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, designed by Bruno La Padula. Due to the war, effective distribution was halted, with both folio and quarto editions of the book becoming very scarce on the market, and with no copies of this folio edition appearing in American Book Prices Current for at least 30 years.
Large 2
LIMITED EDITION, number 17 of 1,200 copies designated on the colophon, of which only a few apparently were distributed. The book was also issued in less-lavish, and much more common, quarto format. The international exhibition scheduled to be held in Rome in 1942 was intended as a glorification of the ruling Fascist regime, and although it was never to take place this most impressive publication is a vivid record of what was intended by Mussolini and by the exhibitions organisers. By 1939 work had already started on the construction of a new E.U.R. suburb of Rome, with model housing and purpose-built exhibition buildings ; the general architectural scheme was devised by a committee headed by Marcello Piacentini, while the best individual building was the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, designed by Bruno La Padula. Due to the war, effective distribution was halted, with both folio and quarto editions of the book becoming very scarce on the market, and with no copies of this folio edition appearing in American Book Prices Current for at least 30 years.