Vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architetti.

Large 4to (210 x 287 mm). 3 vols. CXXIV, 522, 52 pp. VII, (1), 736, (4), 60 pp. VIII, XXIII, (1), 656, 23, (1), 86, (2) pp. All title pages printed in red and black with woodcut vignettes. With 3 engr. frontispieces, 157 engr. portraits, an etched initial and 2 folding engr. plates. 19th century half vellum with marbled covers and giltstamped spine labels. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. First Bottari edition of this classic source on Italian art from Cimabue to Michelangelo, with engraved portraits based on the woodcuts in the definitive 1568 edition. With this principal work of art history Vasari created the genre of the encyclopedia of artistic biographies and introduced the terms "Renaissance" and "Gothic". "There also exist copies on large paper in-folio. This edition is highly esteemed for the valuable notes by Giovanni Gaetano Bottari (who curated it) and Mariette, and many of the portraits are masterfully executed by Bartolozzi" (cf. Ebert). - A fine, wide-margined, and well-preserved copy from the Vienna collection of H. Baumgarten (his stamp to front flyleaf). - Pollen 2037. Fowler 349. Gamba 1726. Ebert 23407. Brunet V, 1096 ("Belle édition [.] plus cher en Italie").