[Satire] Fantasie Capricciose

Trasportate in sensi politici e morali di Ramigdio Glatesecha [= Giovanni Sanchez de Luna, marchese di Gagliati]. Lipsia [= Napoli], 1710. First and only edition. Sm. 4to, vellum, title on spine in ms. Title with vignette in woodcut, (32),437,(3) pp. Italian text, lacks frontispiece; also lacks 4 unnumbered pp. (?). Shabby binding. Rare.

The work includes 151 'fantasies' and ends with a note from Oedipus to the "curious readers", which reveals the name of the author, who, in the title and in the dedication to Eugene of Savoy, is disguised under the pseudonym of Ramigdio Glatesecha. Because of its polemical and satirical character the work was put in the Index. Everyone was ordered not to sell or possess it, as 'it has been acknowledged that it contains false and reckless news'. The punishment for transgressors would have been extremely severe: exile 'and other punishments at our discretion' for people of noble lineage; five years of 'galley' for booksellers and for all non-noble people. Sanchez's satirical mottos spared no one: they involve clergy, doctors, apothecaries, magistrates, lawyers, etc. Added: another Italian work in 3 vols. Della Origine delle Leggi, della Arti, e delle Scienze. A.Y. Goguet. Lucca, Vincenzo Giuntini (for) Giovanni Riccomini, 1761. 4to, vellum, complete with 9 copper engravings and 2 tables, all folding. Binding loose, wormholes. (total 4)