![MITELLI, Giuseppe Maria (1634-1718). Alfabeto in sogno. Esemplare per disegnare. [Bologna: no printer], 1683 [but later].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17486_0033_002(statutes_of_the_order_of_st_michel_in_french_illuminated_manuscript_on055356).jpg?w=1)
![MITELLI, Giuseppe Maria (1634-1718). Alfabeto in sogno. Esemplare per disegnare. [Bologna: no printer], 1683 [but later].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17486_0033_003(statutes_of_the_order_of_st_michel_in_french_illuminated_manuscript_on055356).jpg?w=1)
![MITELLI, Giuseppe Maria (1634-1718). Alfabeto in sogno. Esemplare per disegnare. [Bologna: no printer], 1683 [but later].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17486_0033_004(statutes_of_the_order_of_st_michel_in_french_illuminated_manuscript_on055356).jpg?w=1)
![STATUTES OF THE ORDER OF ST MICHEL, in French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1523 – before 1525]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17486_0033_000(statutes_of_the_order_of_st_michel_in_french_illuminated_manuscript_on055356).jpg?w=1)
Details
MITELLI, Giuseppe Maria (1634-1718). Alfabeto in sogno. Esemplare per disegnare. [Bologna: no printer], 1683 [but later].
First edition, extremely rare in its completeness, of a masterpiece of Italian Baroque, an anthropomorphic alphabet showing a series of capital letters through ingeniously contorted male and female figures, each letter surrounded by specimens for heads, bones, eyes, noses and others anatomical elements. The engravings are accompanied by a verse cartouche. Bonacini 1196 'This is Mitelli’s masterpiece'; Brunet III, 1778 (with the erroneous date 1675); Cicognara 1718; Berlin Kat. 5289.
Folio (365 x 248mm to 403 x 277mm). 25 leaves comprising engraved pictorial title, dedication leaf, and 23 engraved plates (some staining and spotting, particularly to the dedication leaf, two closed tears with no loss, repaired). 19th-century patterned-paper boards (rubbed, extremities a little worn).
First edition, extremely rare in its completeness, of a masterpiece of Italian Baroque, an anthropomorphic alphabet showing a series of capital letters through ingeniously contorted male and female figures, each letter surrounded by specimens for heads, bones, eyes, noses and others anatomical elements. The engravings are accompanied by a verse cartouche. Bonacini 1196 'This is Mitelli’s masterpiece'; Brunet III, 1778 (with the erroneous date 1675); Cicognara 1718; Berlin Kat. 5289.
Folio (365 x 248mm to 403 x 277mm). 25 leaves comprising engraved pictorial title, dedication leaf, and 23 engraved plates (some staining and spotting, particularly to the dedication leaf, two closed tears with no loss, repaired). 19th-century patterned-paper boards (rubbed, extremities a little worn).
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