Mémoires Historiques & Géographiques du royaume de la Morée, Negrepont, & des place Maritimes, jusqu'à Théssalonique.
Recueillis & enrichis des Cartes des Païs, & des Plans des Places, Par P.M. Coronelli, Geographe de la Republique de Venise.
À Amsterdam, Chez Wolfgang, Waesberge, Boom, & van Someren. 1686
12mo, 157 x 107 mm, contemporary vellum with gilt ornament on the spine and a small gilt band at the head of the spine.
[1] blank f., [1] f. title page, [1] f. notice to the reader. 232 pp. + 42 plates, [1] f. list of plates. Complete.
A work of travel, geography and geopolitics, and a historical record not only of Greek towns and landscapes but above all of the conquest of the Ottoman Morea by the Republic of Venice between 1684 and 1686, the Mémoires Historiques & Géographiques du royaume de la Morée was written and published under the direction of the Franciscan friar Vincenzo Coronelli (a Venetian, born in 1650).
A celebrated scholar, Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice and founder in 1680 of the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, the first geographical society in the world, Coronelli was a shrewd businessman who knew how to exploit his talents as a globe maker and engraver. He thus became one of the most famous globe makers of all time: he created the "Marly globes", made in honour of Louis XIV during his stay in Paris between 1681 and 1683 and now preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. (1)
But Coronelli is also famous today for his publishing work in the service of the Republic of Venice, above all on the subject of the "Regno della Morea". [...] this expression referring not only to the Venetian conquest of the Morea, but also to the publication that transformed Coronelli, the esoteric maker of globes for kings, emperors and popes, into an internationally renowned engraver, publisher and author. (2)
The historical context of this edition tells us a great deal about Coronelli's interest in the Morea. In 1684 Venice declared war on the Ottoman Empire and set out to conquer the Morea; the appearance of his edition in 1686 was therefore no coincidence. It served geographical ends, but also geostrategic ones, and acted as propaganda for the city of Venice.
Coronelli's engravings illustrating the course of the Venetian campaigns were first published in Venice in 1686, in two books: Le Conquiste della serenissima republica di Venetia and the Memorie istoriografiche della Morea. In their wake he published numerous editions and translations of the Morea illustrating the Venetian campaigns, and constantly reworked his engravings to suit new formats and the corrections required by propaganda.
The Memorie istoriografiche della Morea draws on the contents of the book of conquests but becomes more a geographical description than a military account; it is accompanied by topographical views of towns, in addition to the texts and engravings originally produced. (2)
This book, first printed in folio, was quickly adapted to octavo format with new engravings suited to the smaller size, and was printed throughout Europe (notably in Paris under Coronelli's direction).
It was in this format that the Amsterdam edition was produced. This edition has a new French translation (different from the Paris edition), and its plates are newly engraved by the workshops of Wolfgang, Waesberge, Boom & Van Someren (a consortium of prestigious Amsterdam booksellers). Almost certainly without Coronelli's permission, the Dutch publishers, seeing the book's success, were astonishingly quick to copy the text, engrave the plates and bring out a version of equally high quality almost simultaneously.
Coronelli never travelled to the Morea. However, according to Navari [...] the immense amount of work and the speed with which it was accomplished imply that Coronelli must have had access to official sources of information, military intelligence including drawings of fortifications and terrain made by army engineers. This was a natural conclusion to draw, given that Coronelli worked on the orders of the Venetian Senate and that his publications were an instrument of propaganda intended to celebrate Venetian victories. (2)
His most ambitious work is the Atlante Veneto: Isolario descrittione geografico-historica. Venice: 1696–97, a monumental atlas in two volumes, the first covering the Mediterranean, Italy and the Adriatic, and the second Great Britain, Europe, Africa, Japan, Asia and the West Indies. (3)
Our Mémoires historiques et géographiques du royaume de la Morée served him for certain descriptions of Greece, the Morea and Negroponte: the plans and views that appear as double-page plates in our 12mo are found there, beautifully set into the text of the folio Atlas.
(e.g. p. 190 https://phaidra.unipd.it/api/object/o:352212/preview).
A very good copy. The engravings are numerous and superb.
Condition: The usual soiling to the vellum; light dampstain visible at the upper right corner of the first 10 leaves; various minor traces of soiling and dampstaining throughout, as is usual for this type of book; see photos and videos. The book, the binding and the engravings are in very good condition.
References:
- 1600.venezia.it - Città di Venezia
- Leonora Navari. Vincenzo Coronelli and the iconography of the Venetian conquest of the Morea: a study in illustrative methods. Cambridge University Press. 2013.
- Christie's. 2016. Atlante Veneto: Isolario descrittione geografico-historica. Venice: 1696–97.
