GRECIA. BOSCHINI Marco. Il regno tutto di Candia delineato a parte, a parte, et intagliato da Marco Boschini venetiano. Al Serenissimo Prencipe e regal collegio di Venetia. Venezia, 1651

Folio, 310x210; Full stiff vellum binding, label with gilt title on the spine; engraved title page, dedication of the Doge of Venice, 61 etchings at full page, 9 of them folded. Nice copy.

Very rare first edition. The work is entirely illustrated with maps, nautical charts, military prospectuses and harbors. The folded plates are: The kingdom of Candia, a map of the island with a very rich toponomastica describing the many inlets and islets; Scoglio et Forza of Garabuse:, Chania plant; 9 Fortress of suda; Fortress of Rettimo; City of Candia; Siege of Candia, large plate folded several times on both sides; Longa Spina Fortress; City of Settia. Crete's general map is a reduction based on the great map by Francesco Basilicata, which survives only one copy at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It illustrates a very toponomastic location of the coastal sites and outlines the island's orography with precision. On top two medallions, one with the lion march, and two simple cartouches, below a rose of the winds. Extraordinary is the large plate of Candia siege, often missing, which illustrates in details the battle theater, camps, trenches, batteries, barbarian galleons attacking Venetian vessels, soldiers on horseback, and legends on two squares on the side. When the work was published, the city of Candia, in Greek Heraklion, was in the fourth year of a siege that ended in 1669, when Francesco Morosini negotiated the yield by ending a Venetian rule that lasted from 1204.Piantanide 1331; Zacherakis, 592-394; Atabey 136; Blackmer 171; Blackmer-Sotheby's, 37. The lot is offered with a valid export license.