Staff Pick of the Week
I was searching for a book in our stacks when I came across this slim, 18th-century play, Cleopatra, by the southern Italian playwright Scipione Cigala, "de'principi di Tiriolo," printed in Naples by Stamparia Gennaro e Vincenzo Muzio in 1736. I don't believe I have seen this book before, and I gather that the publication is relatively obscure, as I could find little on the printer or the author, except that the printer produced a few other obscure publications and that Cigala was born in 1704, published at least two plays, was a knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and was a member of the literary Accademia dell'Arcadia under the name of Demalgo Dinosteniese (which also appears on the title page).
I was far more interested, however, in the charming etchings and engraved historiated initials with their animals and putti. We know a little bit more about these. The frontispiece of Cleopatra and the Asp and the portrait of the author after a painting by Italian painter Tommaso Martini (1688–1755) were engraved by the Italian artist Antonio Baldi (c.1692–1768). We don't know who did the lovely copperplate initials, but the headpieces were engraved by Francesco Sesoni (b. 1705), and the etching on the title page is by Andreas Maillar.
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-- MAX, Head, Special Collections
