1 ALGAROTTI, (F.) Lettres Du Comte Algarotti Sur La Russie, Contenant L
1 ALGAROTTI, (F.) Lettres du Comte Algarotti sur la Russie, Contenant l'état du Commerce, de la Marine, des revenus, & des forces de cet Empire: avec l'histoire de la guerre de 1735 contre les Turcs, & des observations sur la mer Baltique, & la mer Caspienne. Traduite de l'Italien. A Londres, et se trouve à Paris, Chez Merlin, 1769. (4), 337, (1) pp. 12mo. Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt in compartments, label with gilt lettering, a bit worn and rubbed. € 500 Kress 6601; Higgs 4560; Conlon 69:492; Garnier, Bibliographie de la Russie , 162; Catalogue Russica, i, A450; not in Goldsmiths; not in Einaudi; not in INED; not in Mattioli. First French edition, rare. Francesco Algarotti (1712-1764) was an Italian poet, art and music critic, dandy and man of letters. The son of wealthy merchant, he became the darling of the European aristocracy. In 1733 he captured the attention of Émilie du Chatelet when he stayed with her and Voltaire (Voltaire called him his 'cher cygne de Padoue') to write Il Neutonianismo per le dame which was translated into English by Elizabeth Carter. Leaving France for London, he became the paramour of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who was ready to sacrifice her reputation and move to Italy with him. But Algarotti fled with Lord Baltimore to Russia, a trip recorded in his Viaggi in Russia (1760). Algarotti later became a constant companion to Frederic of Prussia who ordered a monument to be erected at Pisa to the memory of Algarotti ( A Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century History , Edited by Jeremy Black and Roy Porter, p.
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