FILIPPINI (Anton-Pietro). Istoria di Corsica. Pisa, presso N - Lot 46

FILIPPINI (Anton-Pietro). Istoria di Corsica. Pisa, presso Niccolò Capurro, [on titles:] 1827-1831, [on bindings:] 1832. 5 volumes in-4, (12)-cxl-198 + 355-(one blank)-cxlviii-(2) + 471-(one blank)-cxiv-(2) + 377-(one blank)-clx-(2 of which the second blank) + 453-(one blank)-cx pp., illustrated printed hardback bradel; binding of vol. II rebound with printed covers preserved, tears not missing on spine of vol. IV, dampstaining on binding of vols. IV and V, traces of label at tail of each spine, foxing in vol. IV (publisher's binding). Second edition, variant B copy among 4 with slightly different collations (according to the Catalogo colletivo delle bibliotheche del SBN). 2 copper-engraved portraits hors texte. Published at the expense of Count Carlo-Andrea Pozzo di Borgo, it was compiled, prefaced and enlarged with additional documents by the historian Gian-Carlo Gregori. There is a Storia di Corsica under Filippini's name, printed in Bastia in 1820, which is in fact a preface used as a prospectus for an edition that never saw the light of day. "IRREMPLAÇABLE DOCUMENT ON THE CORSICAN WAR AND THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVIth INSULAR CENTURY" (Eugène Gherardi). The original edition, financed by Alfonso d'Ornano, was published in 1594, during the author's lifetime, and had the merit of trying to keep a good distance from Corsican and Genoese positions. This edition soon became impossible to find, as the Genoese destroyed every copy they came across. It was not until 1890 that the first French translation of the text appeared. THE GREAT MEMORIALIST ANTON-PIETRO FILIPPINI (1529 or 1530-c. 1594) was archdeacon and then vicar of the diocese of Mariana, an office which conferred on him the functions of administrator, and which brought him into conflict with both Sampiero and the Genoese - who placed him under house arrest for several months in Genoa. Provenance : Leo Samuele Olschki bookshop (bookplate vignette). - Xavier Versini (several bookplates, including his signature on the title of the first volume and on p. 11 of the first 3 volumes, and initials on p. 26 of the first 3 volumes).