Antique Print-ETHIOPIA-HOUSE-RAS-SELASSIE-ANTALOW-Fumagalli-Salt-Ferrario-c.1815

Medium: Line and aquatint etching with original hand coloring on wove (vellin) paper.

Sheet size: 34 x 23.5 cm (13.39 x 9.25 inch). Image size: 22.8 x 15.8 cm. (8.98 x 6.22 inch).

Condition: good, given age. Light foxing, creasing and soiling. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

FERRARIO, ETHIOPIA, ABYSSINIA, TIGRAY, ANTALOW, RAS WOLDE SELASSIE, HENRY SALT, AFRICAN COSTUME, 19TH-CENTURY COSTUME PRINTS, FUMAGALLI, ETHIOPIAN ARCHITECTURE | PCO-A4-40

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Part of the larger series: ‘Il Costume Antico e Moderno …’ , by Giulio Ferrario, published in Milan in 21 volumes by Antonio Fortunato Stella in 1827 (first edition, second issue). The 17 volumes of the first issue were published sequentially between c. 1815/1816 until 1826 after first being issued in 143 weekly installments. The work appeared in Italian and French. Smaller size editions with smaller much less elaborate plates were published in Florence (1823-38), Naples (1831-42) and even a 16mo. editon in Livorno (1830). Artists that worked on this monumental work are: Gallo Gallina, D.K. Bonatti, A. Biasioli, L. Rossi, Paolo Fumagalli, Gaetano Zancon (1771-1816), G. Bigatti, C. Bramati, G. Gallo, C. Bottiglia, G. Castellini, Antonio Rancati (1784-1816), Vittorio Raineri, Sydney Parkinson, Castelli, A. Sanquirico (1777-1849), Angelo Monticelli (1778-1837), A.L. Rossins, Bottigella and others.

Reference: Ferrario: Il costume antico e moderno; Servolini 1955; Davoli 2000.

Biography engraver: Paolo Fumagalli (1797-1873), Italian engraver and aquatintist, known for topographical and ethnographic views in Ferrario’s works.

Biography artist: Henry Salt (1780-1827), English artist, diplomat, and Egyptologist. Travelled extensively in Ethiopia as an envoy of the British government. His sketches document African and Middle Eastern life. Giulio Ferrario (1767-1847), Italian scholar, bibliographer, and publisher. Director of the Biblioteca Braidense and compiler of Il costume antico e moderno, a vast encyclopedic ethnographic work. Giulio Ferrario was founder of the ‘Societa Tipografica de Classici Italiani’ and served as the director of the Braidense National Library in Milan, Italy.