Libreria Antiquaria Pregliasco

8. BIccI, Antonio. I contadini della Toscana
espressi al naturale secondo le diverse loro vestiture
in sessanta stampe a colori. Firenze, presso
Nicc. Pagni e Gius. Bardi, 1796, € 67.000
Folio (430 x 295 mm), modern half green morocco, spine
in 6 compartments gilt (one lettered), top edge gilt.
Engraved title-page and 60 plates etched with some stipple,
printed in colours and finished by hand by Lasinio,
Camacci, Cavini and Cecchi after Antonio (57) and
Gaetano Bicci, A.Fedi and F.Piattoli. Carlo Lasinio had
learnt the three-colour process from Edouard Gautier
d’Agoty: the surface of the plate was treated with different
colours applied by dabbers. In this method, known as printing
à la poupé, the quality of each single impression depends
upon the deftness and the blending of the colouring and
the care of the printing; at the end the artist gave the necessary
touches of colour to such parts as were too small for
the dabber. The quality of this set is particularly high, with
the colours vividly rendered; the copy is tall and fresh.
These superb plates, among the very first printed in colours
in Italy, reproduce couples in elegant regional costumes,
with Tuscan countryside in the background. Lipperheide I,
1320. Colas I, 325. Forlani-Tempesti, reprint 1970. [18911
7