Zanetti, Guido Antonio. Nuova Raccolta delle Monete e Zecche D’Italia. Bologna. 1775-1789. In five volumes. Fine.12 x 8.5 inches. A matched complete set with contemporary hard bindings of one-quarter tan calf with speckled boards. The spines are divided by five raised bands, each bordered with gilt rulings, with identical accents at the head and foot. A pale salmon spine label in the second of the resulting panels, and a green one in the third are lettered and bordered in gilt. Page ends are finished with red speckling on three sides. Beautifully illustrated with engraved plates throughout, many on full pages, more than 60 in number. All five volumes with minor insect holes in the spines, scuffed losses to the board surfacing and rubbed edges, but all are very well matched in every respect and the bindings are all solid. All volumes bear the Dr. Ferdinando Bassoli bookplate, while the first volume includes the manuscript library identification of Marquis don Teodoro Giorgio Trivulzio, of Milan (1728-1802). The five volumes were published in 1775, 1779, 1783, 1786 and 1789. This impressive work, along with the volumes by Filippo Argelati offered earlier in this sale, are considered important early numismatic studies, enough so that when Dr. Ferdinando Bassoli wrote his own study on early literature, <em>Antiquarian Books on Coins and Medals: From the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century</em>, he devoted an entire chapter to these two books. About Zanetti, Bassoli wrote, “From 1770 onwards, he was known not only as a specialist collector of Italian coins (extending from the barbaric medieval age to the modern era — a rare thing in the eighteenth century) but, above all, as a leading specialist in practical aspects of numismatics.” This work was conceived by Zanetti as a continuance of the work by Argelati, offered earlier in this sale. This set brought $5,750 in the January 2009 Kolbe sale, where it last appeared, comfortably in excess of its $4,000 presale estimate.From the D. Brent Pogue Library. Earlier ex Teodoro Giorgio Trivulzio; Vallerini Andrea, 1983; Dr. Ferdinando Bassoli, George Frederick Kolbe, January 2009, lot 274.
