First Edition of Giannone's Civil History of Naples

Pietro Giannone. DELL ISTORIA CIVILE DEL REGNO DI NAPOLI LIBRI XL. 4 vols. (complete). Naples: Niccolò Nafo, 1723. First edition. Full vellum, label with gilt stamped title on spines, all edges speckled. 4to; *4 a-b4 Aa4 A-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Xxx4; a4 A-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Zzz4 Aaaa-Cccc4; Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Zzz4 Aaaa-Bbbb4; A-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Yyy4; 2177 total pages. Roman type, text in Italian. With red and black title pages, printer's ornaments, decorated initials; index in volume 4.
10 x 7 3/4 in. each
Pietro Giannone (1676-1748) was an Italian historian whose influential history of Naples took him two decades to write. His controversial ideas led to his excommunication and his book on Naples was was placed on the Roman Catholic Church's index of banned books, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.
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Expected age wear to boards including edgewear and light discoloration; small wormholes at spine and joints, vol. IV with tailband partially detached; bookplate and wormholes on endpapers, cracking at hinges with overall sturdy bindings; pages with light to heavy toning, foxing, and occasional staining, frayed edges, wormholes, and small losses most not impacting text; several repairs concentrated in first and third volumes, vol. 1 with occasional damp staining; lacking portrait frontispiece. A good overall set of this important first edition.