Album factice with 125 engravings.

Folio oblong, 125 pl. in unnumbered states, and irregularly numbered in pen and brown ink (foxing throughout mostly in margins, dampstaining, and marginal wormholes, the 5 pl. by Barrière laid down on paper).

Contemp. calf, gilt decorated spine with 6 bands (weak joints, corners bumped, sl. used).

Unique album with 4 series by G.B. Falda and 5 extra pl. by D. Barrière, for a total of 125 finely executed engravings of Roman fountains, churches and city views. The Roman printer G.G. de Rossi chose G.B. Falda (1643-1678) from Bernini's studio at the age of 14 in 1657, and trained him as an architectural etcher. His plates were re-issued well into the 18th c. with little or no change. According to the literature the numbering of the plates did not take place until after 1699, and, well into the 18th c., sets of unnumbered plates were bound up in random order (Early printed books, 1478-1840: catalogue of the British Architectural Library, no. 1019). Hence the unique composition of this album which includes:
1. Le fontane di Roma nelle piazze e luoghi publici della città [...]. Libro primo. Complete series of 33 pl., numbered 1-33 and 59 ("17. Fontana su la piazza del campidoglio" bound after the title of 4."Il nuovo teatro"; not all pl. in the usual order, pl. 16 belongs to the 4th series). Ref. Bartsch XXI: 138-140.- Ornamentsticher Berlin 3603.
2. Le fontane delle ville di Frascati nel Tusculano con li loro prospetti. Parte seconda. Complete series of 16 engr., irregularly numbered and interrupted by 5 pl. of the following series. Ref. Bartsch XXI: 140-142.
3. Starting after the 2 first pl. of the previous series: Barrière, D. - "Villa Aldobrandina Tusculana sive varii illius hortorum et fontium prospectus". (Paris, 1647). 5 (of 22) views of the Villa Aldobrandini, numbered 36, 38-40, 48. Ref. Dumesnil p. 70: 144, 150, 148, 151 and 152.
4. Il nuovo teatro delle fabriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna sotto il felice pontificato di N.S. papa Alessandro VII. Books 1 and 3, bound together with the pl. in random order, not even after their own book titles. The album includes from Book 1 (title dated 1665): the complete series of 35 pl. (pl. "35. Castello e fonte dell' acqua acetosa celebre per la salubrità sua fuori della Porta del Popolo", numbered as such in BnF, is here numbered 16 in pen and bound in "Le fontane") and Book 3: 36 (of 38) pl. (pl. "12. Chiesa dedicata a San Carlo" and "13. Chiesa dedicata a San Andrea" missing).
Ref. BnF - Bartsch XXI:235-53.
Prov. "le doyen loppin" (ms. note).- "Le Tellier, Avocat" (bookplate).