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HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) -- HUGUES, Pierre-François, called d'Hancarville (1719-1805). Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. W. Hamilton. Naples: 1766-67. Volumes I-II only (of 4), large 2° (460 x 350mm). Parallel text in French and English, 2 hand-coloured engraved titles in each volume, 3 engraved dedications, 217 (of 219) etched and engraved plates by Lamberti and Pignatari after Beaulieu, Bracci, Cardon, Nolli and Tierce, many hand-coloured, some double-page, engraved head-pieces and initials. (Some plates on modern guards, occasional creasing of large plates, volume I with a few marginal waterstains, plate 60 repaired at margin, volume II lacks plates 20-21, with worming at lower corners affecting text leaves more than plates.) Contemporary calf (rubbed, rebacked and recornered). Provenance: sold Sotheby's, 29 June 1942, lot 289 for 35/-, purchased from Heywood Hill at same date for £2 (pencil note on front pastedown).
'EDITION SPLENDIDE ET DE GRAND LUXE' (Cohen-de Ricci) of this catalogue of the first collection of vases formed by Sir William Hamilton while British Plenipotentiary to Naples. Having purchased in 1766 the Porcinari collection of Greek (then considered Etruscan) vases, Hamilton quickly added to it other important specimens of ancient vases, coins, bronzes, glass and terracotta. The British Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities then acquired the collection in 1772 for £8,400. Although the first two volumes are dated 1766 and 1767 respectively, these dates are now thought to have been falsified in order to hide d'Hancarville's plagiarism of Octavian Guasco, whose own work was published in 1768 (See I. Jenkins & K. Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes, Sir William Hamilton and his Collection, London: British Museum, 1996, pp. 51 and 99). Publication of volumes III-IV was interrupted when d'Hancarville was expelled from Naples, and the plates seized by his creditors. Blackmer 845; Cohen-de Ricci 474; Berlin. Kat. 890; Brunet I, 321; Vinet 1528.
'EDITION SPLENDIDE ET DE GRAND LUXE' (Cohen-de Ricci) of this catalogue of the first collection of vases formed by Sir William Hamilton while British Plenipotentiary to Naples. Having purchased in 1766 the Porcinari collection of Greek (then considered Etruscan) vases, Hamilton quickly added to it other important specimens of ancient vases, coins, bronzes, glass and terracotta. The British Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities then acquired the collection in 1772 for £8,400. Although the first two volumes are dated 1766 and 1767 respectively, these dates are now thought to have been falsified in order to hide d'Hancarville's plagiarism of Octavian Guasco, whose own work was published in 1768 (See I. Jenkins & K. Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes, Sir William Hamilton and his Collection, London: British Museum, 1996, pp. 51 and 99). Publication of volumes III-IV was interrupted when d'Hancarville was expelled from Naples, and the plates seized by his creditors. Blackmer 845; Cohen-de Ricci 474; Berlin. Kat. 890; Brunet I, 321; Vinet 1528.
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