Lot 285
Macpherson, James
Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: 10 January 2007 at 11:00 GMT
Description
I Canti d'Ossian Pensieri di un Anonimo. Disegnati ed incisi a contorno. Venice: Giuseppe Battagia, Tipografia d'Alvisopoli, 1817, oblong folio, engraved calligraphic title, 48 engraved plates, errata leaf, contemporary red half morocco gilt, marbled sides
Footnote
Note: A bizarre series of plates by Canova's pupil Luigi Zandomeneghi to illustrate Macpherson's Ossian. Despite the controversy surrounding Macpherson's false claim that Fingal's author was a third century Gaelic poet, these Celtic Romances were much admired in Europe as the Northern equivalent of the works of Homer. Cicognara's attribution (1106) to Zandomeneghi is followed by UCBA but neither gives an imprint or date.