HAMILTON, William, Sir, 1730-1803. Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies As They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London by Sir William Hamilton - K.B.F.R.S. - His Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples - To which, in Order to convey the most precise idea of each remark, a new and accurate Map is annexed, with 54 Plates, illuminated from Drawings taken and colour’d after Nature, under the inspection of the Author, by the Editor Mr. Peter Fabris. Naples, 1776. With A Supplement to the Campi Phlegraei. Being an Account of the Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the Month of August 1779. Communicated to the Royal Society of London by Sir William Hamilton. Naples, [Printed by Paolo de Simone], 1779. [Edited and Sold by Pietro Fabris]
Title page and first table of this lavish work, published in Naples at the princely sum of 60 Neapolitan ducats, in both French and English. This copy is bound in the same style as the Supplement of 1779 which accompanies it. Hamilton arrived in Naples in 1764 and was immediately struck by the vulcanic phenomena that he was able to witness in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The tables of the book were engraved and hand colored after drawings made mostly by Pietro Fabris directly on location.
Frontespizio e prima tavola collocata a mò di antiporta dell’opera che rese famoso Sir William Hamilton, inviato straordinario e poi ministro plenipotenziario del re d’Inghilterra presso il sovrano del re delle Due Sicilie. Giunto a Napoli nel 1764, Hamilton rimase subito colpito dai fenomeni vulcanici del Regno delle due Sicilie che cominciò ad osservare da vicino e di cui informava assiduamente la Royal Society di Londra. Il libro dedicato ai Campi Flegrei, che è arricchito da 54 tavole colorate a mano e incise da schizzi e tempere fatte direttamente sul posto soprattutto da Pietro Fabris, fu stampato a Napoli da Paolo de Simone e venne posto in vendita dallo stesso Fabris al prezzo di 60 ducati napoletani.
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