Engraved t.p. after Gianlorenzo Bernini by Giovanni Federico Greuter on leaf [cross]2r. It depicts King David with his harp, together with a river god. There are 11 engraved head- and tailpieces by Stefano della Bella, including 4 repeats. Cf. de Vesme, Le peintre-graveur italien, Della Bella 911-915, 916. The engravings described by de Vesme are from another ed. However, his no. 916, a larger variant depiction of David and Saul, corresponds in size to the engraving that appears in the present work on p. x and 191.

Vesme, A. de. Peintre-graveur italien, 911-915, 916

Two lines of Latin verse are inscribed on front pastedown, with the title: In statuem Daph[n]e Bernini, and followed by the author's name: Mapheus Barberinus. These are Maffeo Barberini's verses for the pedestal of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne in the Villa Borghese (with the word corpora" substituted for "gaudia"). A French translation follows, written in the same hand and signed: Tanchou.

A second inscription on the t.p. records the gift of this vol. in 1638 by Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679) to his librarian, Giuseppe Maria Suarès, bishop of Vaison (1599-1677).

The poem on p. 184-185 (in Greek and Latin versions) describes a painting of St. Sebastian. It has been suggested that it may refer to the painting of Sebastian's body being thrown into the Cloaca Maxima that was commissioned by Maffeo Barberini in 1612 from Ludovico Carracci and is now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Library's copy bound with the author's Poesie toscane (Rome : Stamperia della Camera Apostolica, 1638).

Binding: stiff vellum. Traces of 2 pairs of ties at foredges. The front cover has become separated from the text block, and an additional t.p. with the imprint (lacking in the present copy) may be missing.