Collection of 5 works
Milan: Joseph Beati et Antoine Tenenti, 1820.
Blasis
Traité Elementaire, Theorique et Pratique de l'Art de la Danse contenant les developpemens, et les demonstrations des principes generaux et particuliers, qui doivent guider le danseur. Par Ch. Blasis premier danseur.
1f. (recto blank, verso half-title), 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 124 pp. + 14 full-page plates of male dancers in various attitudes (including one double-page). With the frontispiece portrait of the author after a painting by London artist Thomas Lawrence, missing from most recorded copies. With the autograph signature of the author "C. Blasis" to verso of title. First Edition. Rare. Derra de Moroda 390. Beaumont pp. 17-18. Niles & Leslie I, p. 53. Ward: Italian 316. Ximenes Catalogue 90: The Collection of Parmenia Migel Ekstrom, no. 34. Sowell: The Art of Terpsichore, 73. "The first major technical dance treatise of the nineteenth century." Sowell. "One of the classic and most celebrated manuals of theatrical dance technique, in which the author impresses on the student the importance of a knowledge of all the fine arts, that he or she may strive to become not merely a beautiful machine but an artist. ... The plates are excellent and illustrate the movements, positions and poses described. Plate XIV is particularly interesting for its spirited representations of the different types of dancers, such as Danseur serieux, Danseur demi-caractere and Danseur comique, i.e., character." Beaumont p. 18.
Bound with:
Blasis
Delle Composizioni Coreografiche e delle Opere Letterarie ... coll"aggiunta delle Testimonianze di varii scrittori e il Genisuna du Dissertazione inedita sovra le Passioni ed il Genio. Milano: Presso Fratelli Centenari e Comp., 1854.
1f. (recto blank, verso frontispiece portrait of Blasis), 1f.(title with printer's device), vi, 87, [i](blank) pp.+ 2 full page engraved plates by Luigi Mantovari after Eugenio Thierry; one a bust of Annunziata Blasis,a dancer and Carlo's wife, the other, a bust of Carlo Blasis. First Edition. Derra de Moroda 383 (a xerox copy of the first 43 pp. only). Nile & Leslie I, pp. 50-51. Ward Italian 858. Magriel p. 109. An important source of information regarding the ballets, pantomimes, dancers, accompanying music relating to these performances ca.1820-1850 and associated literature.
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Anon.
Biographie de Mlle Olympia Corilla. [Paris] Au Bureau du Monde Dramatique, [1860]. Light blue wrappers incorporating title and publication details, 8 pp. Published in a series of short theatrical biographies issued by Le Monde Dramatique. Rare. OCLC (3 copies only, one in the U.S. at Princeton and 2 in France).
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Blasis, ed.
Biografia di Virginia Blasis Onori Poetici. Milano: Tip. Fratelli Centenari e Comp., 1855. 1f. (recto blank, verso engraved frontispiece portrait of Virginia Blasis by J. H. Banks), 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [ii] (preface), [5]-103 pp.+ 1 engraved plate by Montovani after Pampaloni of a memorial to Virginia erected at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence. A collection of articles, laudatory poems, dramatic text ,etc. mostly relating to the life and career of Virginia Blasis but also with some material relating to Carlo Blasis; many of the articles were previously published in various Italian journals. First Edition. Scarce.
Bound with:
Blasis
Raccolta di Varj Articoli Letterarj scelta fra accreditati giornali Italiani e stranieri ed opinioni di distinti scrittori che illustrarono L'Opera. Milano: Presso Il Librajo Ernesto Oliva, 1858. 1f. (recto blank, verso fine engraved frontispiece portrait Blasis by L. Mantovani after A. Azzolini), 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [3]-5 (index), [i] (blank), [7]-47, [i] (blank) pp. Articles mostly written by Blasis. Includes a bibliography of his writings. First Edition. Scarce
Octavo.19th century black calf-backed green textured paper boards, titling gilt to spine.
Binding slightly worn, rubbed, and chipped; hinges cracked; front free endpaper lacking. Occasional very minor foxing; a little minor dampstaining to lower outer corners; minor creasing to upper outer corners of plates; frontispiece portrait to the Traité quite browned; minor show-through of autograph signature to title.
Blasis was an important Italian dancer, choreographer, and dance theoretician. "[His] treatises on the technique of dance (Traité élémentaire, 1820; Code of Terpsichore, 1828) first codified the methods on which the teaching of classical ballet is still based." Noël Goodwin in Grove Music Online.
Item #41656
Price: $2,800.00 other currencies