Watch List notes:

Winckelmann, Johann Joachim. DESCRIPTION DES PIERRES GRAVÉES DU FEU BARON DE STOSCH. Florence: André Bonducci, 1760. 4to, original plain blue paper covers, rebacked in modern cream paper with printed spine label. Printed title with woodcut printer's device; (8), xxxii, (32), 596 pages; woodcut initials and headpieces. Housed in modern blue cloth book box with black morocco spine label, gilt. Minor chipping and marks to paper covers; untrimmed and never bound. Near fine. A remarkably well-preserved, completely untrimmed copy of the original edition of Winckelmann's important catalogue of Baron Philipp von Stosch's collection of engraved gems. The massive volume published by Stosch in 1724, beautifully illustrated by Bernard Picart (also present in this sale) recorded only highlights from the Stosch collection. For this complete catalogue, published after Stosch's death in 1757, Johann Winckelmann was approached. It is dedicated to Winckelmann's patron, Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692–1779), an extraordinary collector of antiquities in his own right. Sinkankas 7277: "After a long preface that presents the design of the work, and, among other topics, noting special pieces in the collection, Winckelmann describes the gems in eight classes: 1 Egyptian and some pieces of Persian origin, 2 sacred mythology, 3 historical mythology, 4 ancient history, 5 amusements, festivals, vases, symbolic rings, 6 vessels and navigation of the ancients, 7 animals, and 8 abraxoid and some modern gems. ... The order of gems was taken from an existing MS catalog upon which Winckelmann depended heavily for his descriptions and also upon the Stosch-Picart work of 1724... At this time the Stosch gems numbered 3,444, according to A Furtwängler, Beschreibung der geschnittenen Steine in Antiquarium, 1896, p V..." C.W. King writes (Antique Gems and Rings, 1872, page 469) that as "the collection had been formed with a view to its completeness in point of subjects, for which purpose pastes of all other celebrated gems were admitted into it, this catalogue becomes the most useful of guides to the collector, hardly any type than can come into his hands not finding its counterpart and elucidation in the text of Winckelmann." While a very small number of copies were issued with several engraved plates, most copies (like this) were issued without. Cicognara 3072. Dekesel W175. Sinkankas 7277. Vinet (Bibliographie méthodique et raisonnée des beaux-arts) 1628: "Ce livre est célébre, il est meme classique. La richesse infinie de la collection du baron du Stosch et le grand nom de Winkelmann lui ont valu lontemps une autorité incontestée."