La caccia giocosa: invenzioni di Gioseffo Maria Mitelli, pittore bolognese, da lui effettivamente sperimentate e dedicate a chi si diletta di caccia. by MITELLI, Giuseppe Maria (1634-1718) - 1684

In Bologna,: 1684., 1684. Quarto. [17] ff. The plates include an engraved title within elaborate border populated with weapons and gimmicks for hunting, a bird-age is shown on the top; engraved "times to begin birding" and 15 plates bearing two plates: top illustration, and bottom engraved text. Later quarter chocolate morocco, simple spine title, raised bands, marbled boards. Fine. FIRST EDITION OF THIS EXTREMELY RARE WORK, ENTIRELY ENGRAVED, BEING MITELLI'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST PRINTING OF HIS OWN FORM OF BIRD-HUNTING, OR BIRD TRAPPING . The magnificent illustrations depict different bird hunting techniques, all very curious. According to Ceresoli these techniques for bird trapping were actually used at the time of this publication. "The aucupio modes depicted may seem fantastic, but actually practiced in those times, in which game was more credulous and more abundant than now: the Mitelli, then, a strenuous hunter, depicts some invented or modified by himself." – Ceresoli. Mitelli practiced the art himself and he was the artist for the plates. An explanatory text accompanies each plate. The book begins with instructions concerning the most appropriate month of the year to hunt the different species of bird. / The extreme rarity of this work is evidenced by the 1745 reprint of Lelio della Volpe, as well as two later German issues Joseph Mitelli Mahlers zu Bologna Jagd-Lust . . ." (1720), "Die Voegel auf verschiedene Art zu sangen" (1739). The 1745 edition is oblong, with separate plates and title and two preliminaries set in type. This first edition is of exceptional rarity, and the Marcel Jeanson collection possessed only the second edition (# 409). / In 1932 Brighenti created a facsimile edition in 150 copies ("and a short work of the rarest and most curious of the seventeenth century engraved by the famous Giuseppe Maria Mitelli passionate hunter"). / Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (1634-1718), son of the famous painter Agostino Mitelli, became a renowned engraver and left a rich production in many subjects. He was among the 40 founders of the Clementine Academy of Bologna in 1710 and one of its first directors. A passionate hunter, he dedicated this suite of plates to his fellow bird hunters. The first was published in Bologna, in a very limited number of copies, in 1684. / Mitelli (1634-1718), famous for his "Giuochi" [folk games] and "Arti per via," [street tradesmen drawings, 1660], was an avid bird hunter, and the plates are derived from his personal experiences. The aucupio [small bird hunting technique through the use of various kinds of traps] technique used involves catching birds in cages. REFERENCES: Ceresoli, Adriano, Bibliografia delle opere italiane latine e greche su la caccia, (1969) p. 359: "rarissima. " Schwerdt, Franz Georg Richard, Hunting, Hawking, Shooting, Illustrated in a Catalogue of Books. London: Privately Printed for the Author by Waterlow & Sons Limited, (1928, 1937), vol. II p. 29: "Mitelli was a printer in Bologna and a great lover of the chase, writing this book from personal experience. " See: [1] Adriana Arfelli, Per la bibliografia di Agostino e Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Arte antica e moderna, 3 (1958), pp. 295-301; [2] Pallottino, Paola, Storia dell'illustrazione italiana: libri e periodici a figure dal XV al XX secolo, Bologna: Zanichelli, (1988).