Beschreibung:

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803). Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London with Supplement to the Campi Phlegraei, being an account of the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the month of August 1779. Naples: 1776-1779. 3 parts in 1 volume, 2° (440 x 305mm). Letterpress titles and text in English and French. HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED DOUBLE-PAGE MAP AND 59 HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED PLATES after Pietro Fabris the map engraved by Joseph Guerra, the plates edged in black with grey wash margins. (Light brown stain to part of plate 40, slight surface damage to small areas of sky on plate 39, a few plates with small patches of white discoloration to the grey wash margins, one or two very lightly spotted.) 19th-century English green straight-grained morocco, the covers with decorative border of Greek-key pattern roll between double fillets, with floral corner-pieces, enclosing stylised foliate roll, Botfield arms blocked in the centre, spine in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in one, the others decorated with a central block surrounded by rules and smaller tools, edges and turn-ins decorated with gilt rolls, g.e. (some light scuffing to covers, spine a little faded, corners very lightly rubbed). A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION of Hamilton's lavishly illustrated work. The plates are so opaquely coloured that the engraved base beneath is hardly visible: indeed, Hamilton himself describes them as "executed with such delicacy and perfection, as scarcely to be distinguished from the original drawings themselves" (Part I, p. 6). Pietro Fabris was an English artist living in Naples, originally commissioned and trained by Hamilton to sketch the volcanos of southern Italy for Hamilton's own private satisfaction. However, Hamilton was so delighted with the results, and concerned that Fabris, by then "in a declining state of health" should receive "a moderate and constant benefit from his labours", that he suggested that Fabris undertake publication of Hamilton's letters to the Royal Society accompanied by plates engraved from Fabris's original drawings. Hamilton was also doubtless not displeased at the prospect of his researches reaching a wider audience. Fabris was the sole distributor of the work, which was originally published at 60 Neapolitan ducats for Part I and Part II: the price of the Supplement is not recorded. Hamilton's observations support his theories on the formation of landmass as a result of volcanic activity, an interest to which he devoted much of his leisure time. Within four years he ascended Vesuvius twenty-two times, sometimes at great risk, since both he and Fabris wished to make sketches at every stage of the eruptions. The figures of Hamilton (wearing a red coat) and occasionally of Fabris appear in the plates. The Campi Phlegraei is the best known of Hamilton's four works on volcanic activity, although his Observations on Mount Vesuvius , published by the Royal Society in 1772 was well-received at the time, and ran to three editions. Hamilton presented his collection of volcanic rocks and minerals to the British Museum in 1767. A new edition of the Campi Phlegraei was published by Lamy in Paris, 1799, in eleven parts: there was an uncoloured, a mixed (some plates coloured, others uncoloured), and a large-paper hand-coloured issue.