Ludwig Salvator, Archduke of Austria-Tuscany Ludwig Salvator of Austria-Tuscany (1847-1915), the second youngest son of the last ruling Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II, was a particularly eccentric figure in a Fin de Siècle rich in eccentric figures. As an unemployed descendant of a dynasty unemployed after the Battle of Solferino, he felt called upon […]

Alexander von Humboldt, Volcans des Cordillères de Quito et du Mexique, pour servir aux œuvres de Humboldt et spécialment aux Mélanges de géologie et de physique générale, Paris 1864 Zs-HUM 737-4640 raro IV This volume plays a central role in the divulgation of Alexander von Humboldt’s (1769-1859) extensive research on the subject. It is the

Giuseppe Gioeni, Relazione della eruzione dell’Etna, Catania 1787 Be 4620-3870 raro IV This work by Giuseppe Gioeni (1743-1822), a naturalist and volcanologist from Catania, offers a careful study of the eruption of Etna that began at the beginning of June 1787. As mentioned in the text, at the time of the eruption, the author was

Déodat de Dolomieu, Mémoire sur les Iles Ponces, et catalogue raisonné des produits de l’Etna, pour servir à l’histoire des volcans, Paris 1788 Be 3215-3880 raro IV This book by Déodat de Dolomieu (1750-1801) consists of two separate texts, published together: a memoir on the Pontine Islands (up to p. 143) and a Catalogue des

Camille Mauclair, Naples l’éclatante. Capri, Amalfi, Sorrente, Paestum, Pompei, Herculanum. Aquarelles de Pierre Vignal, Grenoble 1928 E-NAP 12-5280 raro VI Adopting the captivating title Naples l’éclatante, the book presents an overview of Naples and the beauty of its coast and islands, with a romantic and aestheticising literary approach. It is the work of Camille Faust,

Leopoldo Barboni, Sul Vesuvio. Ascensione tragicomica al cratere in eruzione (1878), Livorno 1892 E-NAP 10-4920 raro III Leopoldo Barboni (1848-1921), a teacher of Italian literature and headmaster in several high schools in Tuscany and Sicily, was the author of a recreational anthology of Italian prose and poetry for schools and of some humorous children’s books.

Il Vesuvio: strenna per 1869, pubblicata a pro de’ danneggiati dall’eruzione, Naples 1869 Be 4015-4691 raro III This small volume is part of the successful nineteenth-century publishing genre of the strenna (‘gift’): collections of various texts that were printed by publishers as the year-end festivities approached, so that they could be purchased as gifts. This

E. A. Classens de Jongste, Souvenirs d’une promenade au Mont Vésuve, Naples 1841  Fa 230-4415 raro IV In Classens de Jongstes’ Souvenirs d’une promenade au Mont Vésuve, impressions and information about Vesuvius and its surroundings are collected in a souvenir-like manner. The ‘souvenirs’ here, however, are not objects or illustrations, but texts. An introduction by

Zoë De Gray, Vues de mon voyage en Italie 1845, [Europa] 1852 Fa 230-4524 raro VII This is a private album in which numerous pictures, mostly color prints, are pasted. The title on the first page, “Views of my trip to Italy 1845” is signed “Zoë C.tesse de Gray”, a countess about whom we have

Album Naples, between 1835 and 1900 E-NAP 12-4350 raro V The album bears the English title “Naples” on the cover, from which it can be concluded that the 13 sheets with motifs of Naples and Pompeii were compiled by an English-speaking traveler. Only the four color prints of Pompeii are marked with references to the