Trattato delle piante & immagini de sacri edifizi di Terra Santa [Plans of Sacred Edifices of the Holy Land], by Bernardino Amico. Florence: Pietro Cecconcelli, 1620. Second edition, with etchings by Jacques Callot.
This important work by Bernardino Amico (1576-1620) documents the sacred edifices of Jerusalem and Bethlehem and includes dozens of architectural sketches (etchings) – the Temple Mount, Rachel's Tomb, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of the Holy Archangels in the Armenian Quarter and more – as well as two maps of Jerusalem (Laor 940; laor 941): a map of the city in Amico's lifetime and a map of the city in Antiquity (based on the writings of Josephus Flavius).
The first map was sketched after a map of Jerusalem by Antoni de Angeles – one of the most influential maps in the history of the cartography of Jerusalem, which was first printed in 1578 and was lost fifty years later; for many years, Amico's version is considered the most precise remnant of the original map and it inspired many cartographers in the following centuries.
The Franciscan monk Bernardino Amico lived in Palestine during the years 1593-1597 and held custodial posts in the Church of the Nativity and the catholic part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on behalf of the Custodia Terrae Sanctae. During his stay in Palestine, the Ottomans took measures to supplant the Christians from sacred sites and Amico was asked to document, to the best of his ability, the edifices he could access. In his three years in Palestine, Amico made dozens of unique sketches depicting the sacred edifices of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in a modern form of sketching – blueprints, sections and images according to perspective rules (these early illustrations document edifices, some of which were destroyed or changed form over the years).
The first edition of this book was published in Rome in 1602 and quickly sold out. In 1620, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II (who was the patron of Galileo Galilei) decided to publish a new and revised edition. In this edition, the etchings were made by Jacques Callot, after Amico's illustrations (Callot added small figures to the illustrations), the chapters were rearranged and two maps of Jerusalem - not included in the first edition - were added at the end of the book.
[7], 65, [i.e. 63], [1] pp. + [1] engraved title page and [34] double-page engraved plates, 27 cm. Good condition. Stains. Some tears. Worming to the margins of some of the leaves (worming slightly affecting the text on one leaf, restored with paper). Strips of paper for reinforcement on inner margins of some leaves. Some creases. The etchings are numbered by hand. Original vellum binding, with wear and minor blemishes. A handwritten leaf is mounted on the inside front board.