Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca. Impressione napoletana secondo l’ultima di Firenze con la giunta di molte voci raccolte dagli autori approvati dalla stessa Accademia

Napoli: A spese di Giuseppe Ponzelli / Nella stampería di Giovanni di Simone, 1746. Six volumes in five; folio (42.5cm.); uniformly bound in full contemporary vellum, gilt spine lettering, all edges speckled grey and orange; collated and complete (collation available upon request); engraved illus., head- and tail-pieces, and initials throughout. Minor wear, chiefly at corners, textblock occasionally rather foxed and darkened from exposure to ink, else a Very Good, quite attractive set of this superlative edition. Updated edition of this monumental dictionary first published in 1612 after nearly thirty years of research (the Accademia itself was founded in 1583). Like most Renaissance dictionaries of vernacular language, the "Vocabolario" laid a heavy emphasis on the written language and usage of Florentine authors of the 15th century, entirely excluding the spoken language and dialects of the lower and craft classes. This edition, published the year Voltaire joined the Accademia, finally broke the mold of its predecessors. Under the guidance of signor Don Pasquale di Tommasi, the "Vocabolario" was finally "enriched with so many words overlooked by Florentine scholars" (Ferdinando Galiani in his preface to the second edition of "Della Moneta"). Not just an improvement on earlier examples, the Naples edition is one of exceptional beauty, adorned throughout with engraved vignettes blending words found in the present volume, often in humorous and imaginative ways (a fluffy, possum-like animal rooting through a cloud of flour: "Grufolando infarinato"). VANCIL, p. 2.