Bibliotheca smithiana, seu Catalogus librorum D. Josephi Smithii Angli per cognomina authorum dispositus

Two parts in one volume, 4to (253x172 mm). [8], DXIX, [1], CCCXLVIII [i.e. 352], [4], xliii, [1 blank] pp. Title page printed in red and black with Consul Smith's engraved arms in the center (repeated also on p. I of the first part). Pasquali's woodcut device at the end of part one. Contemporary cardboards, label with inked title on spine (rubbed and worn). Volume a bit loose. A very good, uncut copy.
First complete edition, divided into four main sections (Catalogus secundum cognomina authorum dispositus; Addenda, & corrigenda in superiori catalogo bibliothecae Josephi Smith; Praefationes, et epistolae voluminibus editis appositae, ab incunabulis Typographiae ante annum MCCCCC; Auctore quorum mention in Catalogo) of the catalogue of the library of Joseph Smith (1682-1770), a patron of the art and a book collector, who was British consul in Venice between 1744 and 1760. In 1762, he sold his library to George III for 10,000 pounds; the collection thus became the nucleus of the King's library and later the British Museum. It is likely that this catalogue was prepared with the sale in mind. The volume lists approximately 2000 works (incunabula, early printed books, Renaissance literature, history, art, architecture, and antiquities) arranged alphabetically by author's surname and includes the full text of about 200 prefaces, dedications, and epilogues taken from incunable editions.
Giovanni Battista Pasquali was one of the most important typographers and publishers of 18th-century Venice. He began his career around 1720 as a worker for the printer Giacomo Valvasense. In 1732 he started publishing on his own. A scholar himself, who published his own essays as well as finely printed editions for a scholarly readership, he was financially supported by Joseph Smith, the catalogue of whose library Pasquali published in 1555, signing the Latin preface to the work. Smith sponsored Pasquali and entered into a partnership with him that lasted from 1734 to 1760, during which time their firm was the most prestigious printing house in Venice (cf. M. Donaggio, Per un catalogo dei testi stampati da Giovan Battista Pasquali (1735-1784), in: “Problemi di critica goldoniana”, II, 1995, pp. 9-100).
Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\TO0E\007137; S. De Ricci, English collectors of books and manuscripts (1530-1930) and their marks of ownership, London, 1960, pp. 54-55; A. Taylor, Book Catalogues: their Varieties and Uses, Winchester, 1986, pp. 261-62; S. Nicolini, Bibliografia degli antichi cataloghi a stampa di biblioteche italiane, Florence, 1954, p. 112, no. 112.