Main Content
Summary
Author: (Giraud, Giovanni)
Title: Al gioco cinese chiamato il rompicapo. Appendice di figure rappresentanti l'alfabeto, le nove cifre dei numeri arabi, domini, bestie, case, cocchi, barche, urne, vasi, ed altre suppellettili domestichi. Preceduta da un discorso sul rompicapo e sulla Cina intitolato passatempo preliminare scritto dall' autore.
Publication: Firenze, "all'Insegna del Ancora" 1818.
Price: £495
Reference: 09967
Full Description
8vo. 42 + (2)pp, 12 engraved plates with images printed in sepia, with 4 accompanying text leaves providing lists of the images on plates V-XII. Original printed boards. Presentation inscription from author on upper cover. Worm damage to lower right hand blank outer corner of pp 25-42, slighter damage in similar position on plates, but nonetheless a good, fresh, untrimmed copy.
A scarce book, issued anonymously but in fact written by the writer and dramatist Giovanni Giraud (1776-1834), offering sprightly reflections on Chinese society and culture, accompanied by plates illustrating how to create letters of the alphabet, numbers, human and animal figures and all sorts of decorative object by the use of squares and triangles (the word "rompicapo" in the title is best translated as "brain teaser") ; puzzles of this nature, of Chinese origin and known as tangrams, were currently popular in Western Europe. Giraud, a member of a wealthy banking dynasty in Rome of French origin, had achieved success as a dramatist during the period of Napoleonic rule in Italy, in which he also held an official position as Director General of the country's theatres.