The Most Comprehensive 19th Century Italian Collection of Travel Narratives -- From Columbus To the 19th Century
Francesco Costantino Marmocchi’s Raccolta di Viaggi dalla scoperta del Nuovo Continente fino a giorni nostri (Prato, Giachetti, 1840-1845) is the most ambitious Italian anthology of travel literature issued in the nineteenth century. Spanning eighteen uniformly bound octavo volumes, it traces the arc of global exploration from Columbus to the latest expeditions into inner Africa and Australia, weaving together freshly translated primary sources with Marmocchi’s critical annotations and documentary appendices.
The set is lavishly illustrated with 156 full-page copper- and steel-engraved plates, including 24 maps and five ethnographic sheets. In scope and editorial acuity it rivals the contemporary French and English series, yet is distinguished by Marmocchi’s patriotic aim to broaden Italian historical consciousness and his unusually sympathetic attention to pre-Columbian cultures.
The work includes reliable translations of newly published sources such as Hernández, Montesinos, Alvarado Tezozómoc, and Xerez. Six volumes focus on Spanish America, six on Asia, two on Oceania, one on Africa, and one straddling North America and Mesopotamia. Marmocchi combined classic sixteenth-century accounts with the newest European reportage, thereby offering readers both the foundational narratives of conquest and the latest scientific itineraries. Complete sets retaining the full complement of plates, as here, are scarce; Brunet knew only fifteen volumes and did not record the final trio that carries the series into mid-nineteenth-century ethnography and exploration.
Contents of the 18 Volumes
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Vols. I–II: Narrazione dei quattro viaggi di Cristoforo Colombo by Martín Fernández de Navarrete — foundational accounts of Columbus’s expeditions across the Atlantic and first encounters in the Caribbean.
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Vols. III–IV: Ricordi intorno all’Oriente by Viscount de Marcellus — observations on the Levant and Ottoman Greece, blending antiquarian interest with contemporary politics.
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Vol. V: Relazione del conquisto del Perù e della provincia di Cuzco by Francisco Xeres, introduced by early-sixteenth-century voyage extracts — vivid chronicle of Pizarro’s campaign in the Andes.
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Vol. VI: Viaggio in Cina by Gabriele Lafond, tracing a route via the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Sunda Islands, and Philippines — includes an additional hand-coloured plate.
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Vols. VII–IX: Viaggi of Alexander Burnes through India, Sindh, Afghanistan, the Kingdom of Bukhara, and Persia — seminal reports on Central and South Asia during the Great Game era.
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Vol. X: Viaggi, relazioni e memorie by Montesinos, Velasco, Torquemada, and Tezozómoc — documents the discovery, antiquities, and history of Peru, Quito, and Mexico.
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Vol. XI: Letters and memoirs on the conquest of Mexico by Francisco Hernández, Juan de Grijalva, Hernán Cortés, Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, and Bartolomé de las Casas — contrasting Spanish and Indigenous perspectives.
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Vol. XII: Viaggio nell’America spagnuola by Gabriele Lafond — nineteenth-century travels through Mexico, Guatemala, New Granada, Peru, Chile, and adjacent regions.
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Vol. XIII: Viaggio in Siria e Palestina by John Robinson — detailed itinerary across the Holy Land and neighbouring provinces.
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Vol. XIV: Viaggi nella Polinesia e nelle isole circonvicine dell’Australia by Gabriele Lafond — Polynesia, Malaysia, the Moluccas, Celebes, and other Pacific locales.
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Vol. XV: Viaggi in Arabia by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt — classic explorations of the Hejaz, Sinai, and interior Arabia.
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Vol. XVI: Viaggi nell’interno dell’Australia o Nuova Olanda by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell — surveys of eastern and south-eastern Australia’s interior.
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Vol. XVII: Viaggi al Madagascar, alle Isole Comore ed all’Isola di Francia by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and Leguével — eighteenth-century narratives of the western Indian Ocean islands.
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Vol. XVIII (part 1): Viaggio negli Stati Uniti dell’America settentrionale by Count F. C. Volney — reflections on the young republic at the close of the eighteenth century.
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Vol. XVIII (part 2): Viaggio nelle contrade di Mesopotamia, Caldea e Assiria by Colonel F. R. Chesney — survey of the Euphrates expedition and early steam navigation prospects.
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Vol. XVIII (part 3): Viaggio a Meroe in Etiopia by George Hoskins — archaeological and geographical observations in Nubia and ancient Meroë.
Although Marmocchi eventually projected twenty volumes, contemporary evidence shows that many sets, including the copy described here, were issued and bound in eighteen.
The edition was advertised with 156 full-page copper- or steel-engraved plates—panoramic views, delicately maps, ethnographic tableaux, portraits of navigators, architectural monuments, and historical scenes.
Brunet, III , 1439, records only fifteen volumes, attesting to the rarity of the complete series. The additional volumes and small discrepancies between printed plate lists and actual contents reflect the evolving, subscription-based production typical of large nineteenth-century compilations.