Saggio dei caratteri della Tipografia Galilejana e per incidenza cenni sull'origine della stampa, storia di detta tipografia e catalogo delle opere stampate fin qui dalla medesima

8vo (250x160 mm). [4], 54 pp. Half title: I caratteri della tipografia galilejana raccomandati ai benevoli di essa a preludio del nuovo anno. Modern boards. Front cover of the editor's printed wrappers preserved, bearing an autograph dedication by Mariano Cellini to Antonio Salvagnoli Marchetti, secretary to the Accademia dei Georgofili. A good copy.

Very rare first edition of this printing type specimen, followed in 1854 by a short eight-page catalogue update. Some recorded copies have one or two folding plates, that are not present here.

This is a very unusual catalogue of typefaces, as the various types are presented in the course of the exposition, which first traces a brief history of the origins of typography, then describes the activity of the Tipografia Galileiana. Pages 1 to 22 each present two different types, from the smallest to the largest. Pages 23 to 34 contain large characters, capitals and initials, followed by two pages of Greek characters and mathematical signs. A summary sketch of the book content at the foot of p. 36 serves as a sample of the dashes in the assortment of the typography for making family trees. The volume ends with a short catalogue of the works published by the Tipografia Galileiana from its foundation until 1853.

Mariano Cellini was born in Florence in 1803. At the age of eight he began to work in a stationer's shop, and two years later he moved to the printing house of the widow Luchi and then to that of Guglielmo Piatti as typesetter's assistant; there he found the excellent guidance of the director L. Ambarelli, who had worked for Bodoni and had fled from Parma to Tuscany after the Restoration. In 1821 Cellini was chosen to be the typographic composer for the printing of the journal “L'Antologia” by G. Cioni, who had been entrusted by G. Vieusseux with the editing of the journal and was dissatisfied with the work of Luigi and Jacopo Ciardelli who had printed the first three issues.

Cellini was thus employed in the workshop directed by L. Pezzati, from whose presses all the subsequent editions of the periodical came out until its suppression in March 1833. This was also the beginning of a long friendship between Cellini and Vieusseux. In 1834, with the help of the latter, Cellini took over the equipment of Glauco Alasi's workshop in Livorno and founded a new typography, which, under the direction of Cioni, began work on 2 January 1835 under the name of Tipografia Galileiana.

The first book coming out of the new presses was a short biography of Galileo written by Cellini himself, which also served as typeface specimen. The Tipografia Galileiana was then mainly engaged with the printing of the quarterly issues of the “Giornale agrario toscano” (from vol. 9) and the “Atti dell'Accademia economico-agraria dei Georgofili” (from vol. 13), as well as the “Rendiconti dell'Istituto agrario di Meleto” founded by Ridolfi (1835-42), the “Giornale dell'Associazione agraria della provincia di Grosseto” (1835-45), the “Guida dell'educatore” edited by R. Lambruschini (1836-45), “L'Illustratore fiorentino” (1836-40), the “Mondo nuovo” (1851-61), the “Archivio storico italiano” (from 1841), and the “Giornale storico degli archivi toscani” (from 1857).

For the first five years, the printing activity, limited to four manual presses, was precarious due to the uncertainties of the partners. By 1840, a more solid financial base allowed the company to try its hand at large historical compilations in several volumes, such as the Storia fiorentina dai tempi etruschi fino all'epoca presente by Giunio Carbone, the Rimembranze storiche ed aneddoti della vita di Napoleone Bonaparte (both 1841), and a military atlas of Napoleon's campaigns (1842), by L. Giovanni.

The Galileiana thus continued to produce mostly sumptuous volumes in limited editions. In 1850, Cellini was officially recognised for the management role he had held since 1835, and the words “di M. Cellini e C.” were added to the firm's name. A paralysis of the right side of his body in 1870 forced Cellini to quit his position, and from 1871 to 1873 he devoted himself to writing a autobiography later published under the title Alcuni ricordi della sua vita pubblicati dai figliuoli (Florence 1878, and reprinted by C. Cappuccio in “Memorialisti dell'Ottocento”, III, Milan, 1972, pp. 677-729). Cellini died in Florence in 1877.

In addition to the letters written by the latter to Vieusseux and Tommaseo, a fundamental source for the reconstruction of the history of the Tipografia Galileiana are this specimen and the subsequent Nota dei lavori della Tipografia Galileiana e per incidenza cenni sull'origine della stampa e storia di detta tipografia (Florence, 1862) (cf. E. Bottasso, Cellini, Mariano, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani”, vol. 23, Roma, 1979, s.v.).

Catalogo unico, IT\ICCU\TO0\0742433.

[13986]