HUGUES, Pierre-Franois, called d'Hancarville (1719-1805). Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines. Tirées du cabinet de M. Hamilton. Naples: 1766-67 [c.1776]. 2 volumes only (of 4), large 2° (480 x 370mm). Parallel text in French and English, 2 hand-coloured engraved titles in each volume, 3 engraved dedications, 19 etched vignette head- and tailpieces, 14 etched decorative initials and 219 (of 437 included in the 4 vols) etched and engraved plates, including 94 hand-coloured, of which 34 are double-page. (Waterstaining, occasionally heavy). Contemporary calf (worn). Provenance: Hereford Library (stamp)
HUGUES, Pierre-François, called d'Hancarville (1719-1805). Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines. Tirées du cabinet de M. Hamilton. Naples: 1766-67 [c.1776]. 2 volumes only (of 4), large 2° (480 x 370mm). Parallel text in French and English, 2 hand-coloured engraved titles in each volume, 3 engraved dedications, 19 etched vignette head- and tailpieces, 14 etched decorative initials and 219 (of 437 included in the 4 vols) etched and engraved plates, including 94 hand-coloured, of which 34 are double-page. (Waterstaining, occasionally heavy). Contemporary calf (worn). Provenance: Hereford Library (stamp)

细节
HUGUES, Pierre-François, called d'Hancarville (1719-1805). Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines. Tirées du cabinet de M. Hamilton. Naples: 1766-67 [c.1776]. 2 volumes only (of 4), large 2° (480 x 370mm). Parallel text in French and English, 2 hand-coloured engraved titles in each volume, 3 engraved dedications, 19 etched vignette head- and tailpieces, 14 etched decorative initials and 219 (of 437 included in the 4 vols) etched and engraved plates, including 94 hand-coloured, of which 34 are double-page. (Waterstaining, occasionally heavy). Contemporary calf (worn). Provenance: Hereford Library (stamp)

FIRST EDITION of a luxurious publication, limited to 500 copies (Blackmer). It catalogues the first collection of vases formed by the connoisseur Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), 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 collection was acquired in 1772 by the British Museum for its Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities for 8,400. The first two volumes are dated 1766 and 1767 respectively, but these are now thought to be falsified in order to cover d'Hancarville's plagiarism of Octavian Guasco, whose own work was published in 1768 (Vases and Volcanoes, pp. 51 and 99). Volumes III and IV did not appear before 1776. Jenkins & K. Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes, Sir William Hamilton and his collection, London: British Museum, 1996; Blackmer 845 (435 plates); Cohen-de Ricci 474; Berlin. Kat. 890; Brunet I, 321; Vinet 1528. (2)