First Edition of Haym’s Tesoro

Haym, N.F. DEL TESORO BRITANNICO. PARTE PRIMA. OVERO IL MUSEO NUMMARIO. OVE SI CONTENGONO LE MEDAGLIE GRECHE E LATINE IN OGNI METALLO FORMA, NON PRIMA PUBBLICATE. DELINEATE E DESCRITTE DA NICOLO FRANCESCO HAYM ROMANO. VOLUME PRIMO & VOLUME SECONDO. In Londra: per Giacob Tonson a spece dell’Autore, 1719 & 1720. Two volumes, bound in one. 4to, later full tan morocco; spine with four raised bands, lettered in brown; brown endpapers. Finely engraved allegorical frontispiece to Volume I by Claude Du Bosc after Sebastiano Ricci; engraved vignette of Britannia on first title; (8), 291, 5 + (20), 289 [mis-numbered 279 as always], (7) pages; woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and initials; engraved size scale; numerous engravings of ancient Greek and Roman coins in the text of both volumes; a fine folding plate depicting a “jumping mouse,” a silphium plant, and ancient coins in the second volume. A rather fresh and clean copy, with only very occasional spotting or browning. Near fine. The first edition. Haym, an Italian resident in England, intended to publish a corpus of Greek and Roman coins and antiquities in English collections. Seventeen cabinets were included, amongst which were those of the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Pembroke Sir Robert Abdy, Sir Hans Sloane and the University of Oxford. The work, however, was never completed, and no further parts were issued. Babelon 113. Bassoli 32. Brückmann (1729) 54. Dekesel H163. Hennin 216. Hirsch 59. Lipsius 178.