Description

“THE FIRST BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF SPECTACLES” (GARRISON-MORTON)
4to (214x147 mm). XX, 84 pp. Title page printed in red and black with a engraved vignette by Vincenzo Franceschini after Giovanni Domenico Ferretti. Historiated initials. 20th-century half vellum, inked title on spine, red edges. Some occasional light foxing and staining, a good copy.
First edition, first issue with XX preliminary leaves and without the half title which was added later, of “the first book on the history of spectacles. Manni gave credit for the invention to the Florentine Armati (fl. 1300)” (Garrison-Morton). The work was reprinted at Florence in 1997 in a facsimile edition.
The treatise is divided into two parts: the first deals with eyeglasses in antiquity, while the second covers the different types of eyeglasses. Manni's Degli occhiali da naso brought together all the scattered and hidden information about the history of eyeglasses for the first time, and it also had the merit of naming the inventor of eyeglasses some 450 years after their invention. Consequently, it became the main source for virtually everyone intending to study the history of eyeglasses.
At the end, there is an index of notable items and authors cited.
Domencio Maria Manni was the son of a modest Florentine printer. Upon his father's death he devoted himself to the study of literature, and, to support his large family, he earned a living by writing remunerative works, supplementing this modest income with a salary as an employee in the Florence Archives. He was a member of the Accademia della Crusca under the name of Sofferente and contributed to the fourth edition of the Vocabolario della Cruca (1729-1738). He wrote numerous works including: Serie dei senatori fiorentini (Florence, 1722); De Florentinis inventis commentarium (Florence, 1731); Lezioni di lingua toscana (Florence, 1737); Istoria del Decamerone (Florence, 1742); Istoria degli anni santi (Florence, 1750); Delle antiche terme di Firenze (Florence, 1751); and Osservazioni istoriche sopra i sigilli dei secoli bassi (Florence, 1739-1764, 30 volumes). In his printing house, he mostly published editions of the classics.
Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\USME\034954; Garrison-Morton, 5991.9; Black, 286.