Italy - GIANNONE (Pietro). Civil history of the kingdom of Naples. With notes, reflections, & medals supplied by the author, & which are not found in the Italian edition. The Hague, Gosse & Beauregard, 1742. 4 vol. in-4, marbled calf, spine with ornamented nerves (period binding). First edition of the French translation of this excellent work attributed to Louis de Bochat and Desmonceaux. It is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author drawn and engraved by Sedelmayer, a plate of coins out of the text, some in-text figures as well as numerous woodcut vignettes and initials. Important history of Naples in which Giannone describes and criticizes the laws and administrative customs of Naples since ancient times. He also denounces the abuses of the Church, for which the work was condemned by the Pope as heretical and defamatory. This work earned its author a series of persecutions, which did not cease until his death, which occurred in prison, where the king of Sardinia, who had embraced the cause of the court of Rome, which was very badly treated in the History of Naples, had had him put. (Brunet II, 1584.) Worn bindings with heavy spotting, headpieces torn off, corners dulled, good condition inside.