Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Eighteen - International League ...

Beggars & Vagabonds Classified
79. [NOBILI, Giacinto, de’.] Il Vagabondo o vero, Sferza de’
bianti e vagabondi. Opera nuova, nella quale si scoprono le fraudi,
e inganni di coloro, che vanno girando il Mondo a spese altrui, e
vi si raccontano molti casi in diversi luoghi, e tempi successi. Data
in luce per Avvertimento de’ semplici da Raffaelle Frianoro. Venice
and Bassano, Giovanni Antonio Remondini, [ca. 1700, not after
1715]. £2,800
8vo, (146 x 101 mm), pp. 96; woodcut title ornament and initial; late
eighteenth-century red boards, later paper title label, spine chipped; red
mottled edges; from the Sforza family of Milan, with etched book-plate
with initials ‘FR SF’ and shelf mark label; a few headlines shaved, still an
attractive copy.
Early edition of a fascinating medieval treatise on conmen, beggars, and
vagrants. The author presents a detailed classification system of the vagrant
population, dividing them in thirty-four categories (p. 5), with telling
names and detailed characterisation. ‘Allacrimanti’, or weepers, who could
shed tears at will, principally in the presence of women, with the hope of
receiving favours; ‘Cagnabaldi’, or exchangers, who persuaded people to
part with pearls, rings, &c., in exchange for nothing; ‘Spettrini’, or false
priests, who pretended to collect for hospitals, and pocketed the money;
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue eighteen
‘Reliquiarii’, or vendors of false reliques, ‘Iucchi or Ribattezzati,’ Jews, who
repeatedly had themselves baptised, in return for valuable gifts; or ‘Falpatori’
or masters of arts, aged or impotent rascals, who taught children the art of
cheating. Each type is carefully described followed by a telling anecdote.
This text by Nobili was first published in Viterbo in 1621. As a genre, the
beggar book has long been associated with the German Liber Vagatorum
(after 1509), but recent research has unearthed another unknown prototype
of this genre, namely a manuscript from Urbino, written by Teseo Pini
ca. 1484–86 and entitled Speculum cerretanorum (first published by P.
Camporesi in 1973, see Pugliatti, p. 133). Nobili’s text is a word-for-word
translation of this fifteenth century work. It is rather appealing to have this
guide to beggars and vagrants in a handy pocket format.
There are a number of editions, all of them rare. Remondini published at
least two editions, this one and one with just 87 pages.
Libreria Vinciana 3267 (pp. 87); Passano, Novellieri I, p. 213; Melzi III, 171;
see Paola Pugliatti ‘The European Tradition of Beggar Books’ in Beggary and the
Theatre in Early Modern England, 2003, pp. 132 ff.; D. Levinson, Encyclopedia of
Homelessness I, p. 650 ff.
Neapolitan Horsemen
80. NOVI, Giuseppe. Vanto delli cocchieri Napolitani o sia
dell’arte nobilissima, che tengono essi, in domare li Cavalli, e
guidarli sotto le Carrozze, sopra qualsisia Nazione. Naples, G. Coda,
1776. £1,600
8vo, engraved frontispiece, pp. xi, [1] blank, 194; decorative initials;
contemporary woodblock printed pattern paper; short worm trace to
upper margin of last two signature, not touching any text.
First edition, uncommon, of this thorough introduction and homage to
Neapolitan horsemanship, in particular to Cajetanus Pezzella, the famed
master horseman and equerry to the prince of Francavilla. Novi begins with
a brief background to horse training, especially for use with carriages, before
stressing the particular aptitude of the Neapolitans for horsemanship in a
semi-psychological study. Novi maintains that extreme dedication is needed
to achieve excellence as a horseman, but this is not necessarily rewarded with
social status. However, he identifies a special ‘code of honour’ amongst the
cocchieri napolitani, the Neapolitan horsemen, which has been commented
on by Benedetto Croce as a parable of Neapolitan republican character.
The fine unsigned frontispiece shows Cajetanus Pezzella, with a horse
being trained in the background.
OCLC: Harvard, UCLA, Michigan, & BL; see M. Meriggi et al, Le regole dei mestieri
e delle professioni: secoli XV-XIX, p. 302; B. Croce, Aneddoti e profili settecenteschi, p.
196.