Bidspirit auction | (ISRAEL, LAND OF).   AMICO

(ISRAEL, LAND OF).   AMICO BERNARDINO. Trattato delle piante & immagini de sacri edifizi di Terra Santa disegnate in Jerusaleme. Engraved title page with Medici arms, 34 DOUBLE-PAGE ENGRAVED PLATES (depicting 46 views and plans) by Jacques Callot. Woodcut headers, footers and initials, woodcut printer's device on colophon. Re-margined at gutter and mounted to binder's stubs throughout, red ink library stamps on title and elsewhere, light browning and fingermarks, paper repairs to last leaf with slight loss. Modern morocco-backed marbled boards. Folio. Atabey 20; Berlin Kat. 2782; Blackmer 31; Fowler 19. Florence, Pietro Ceconcelli, 1620. “ UNSURPASSED  FOR CENTURIES” (Tobler, 87).     The geography and structures of the Holy Land were of profound interest to Christendom. However under Ottoman rule, most holy places were inaccessible to Europeans, making trustworthy accounts and images of them all the more valuable.     Franciscan father Bernardino Amico of Gallipoli resided in the Holy Land from 1593 to 1597, during which time he surveyed the ancient sacred buildings, mostly in Jerusalem, but also Bethlehem and Cairo. He executed fine and exactly observed plans, drawings of façades and sections of buildings and upon returning to Rome engaged Antonio Tempesta to finish his drawings.     Amico’s images were the first accurate renderings of the Holy Sepulchre, and provided the foundation for modern scholarly archaeological research into the historic sites of the Holy Land.     This second edition of Amico’s excellent work is THE FIRST TO INCLUDE PLATES ENGRAVED BY JACQUES CALLOT who was commissioned for the work by Cosimo II de Medici. PROVENANCE: 1. Colonna Family of Rome (library stamps). 2. Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs KCMG CBE (1881-1955), British military official, the first Military Governor of Jerusalem (inscription at end). 3. Roman Vishniac (1897-1990), Russian-American photographer and scientist (his sale, Bonhams).