[MESSINA.]

Untergang der Stadt Messina, nebst ihrer Geschichte, Topographie und Statistik...Ingleichen eine kurze Beschreibung von den beyden feuerspeyenden Bergen Vesuv und Aetna. Mit Kupfern.

28p., 2 folding plates, one with 2 images of Etna in eruption on the 5th February 1783, the other a folding plate with map of southern Italy and the adjacent islands, with an engraving of the Messina earthquake of 1783 [Frankfurt?], 1783, some leaves a little spotted. [With:] [GIBRALTAR.] Gibraltar und die schwimmenden Batterien. Eine Ode [in 48 lines]. 2 engraved vignettes one on title (of Gibraltar) one on p. [3] of floating battery. Small 4to (208 by 170mm). Calf-backed boards. [4]ff. Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1783.

£500.00

A description of the terrible earthquake which destroyed Messina in 1783, a city so damaged that in 1787 when Goethe visited it, it was still largely in a ruined state. This anonymous report, which occupies pages 5-13 of the pamphlet, is stated in its preface to be based on a trustworthy Italian private report, and on various published sources. The account of the two volcanoes follows: Vesuvius (pp. 14-27) and Etna (pp. 27-28).

The Ode on Gibraltar is anonymous.

KVK records only 4 copies of the Messina, in Augsburg, Freising, Göttingen, and Trier. The Gibraltar Ode is held at the British Library, in Vienna, and a handful in Germany.

Stock No.
211441