Le Antichità Romane Opera Di Giambatista Piranesi Architetto Veneziano Divisa In Quattro Tomi Nel Primo De' Quali Si Contengono Gli Avanzi Degli Edifizi Di Roma Disposti In Tavola Topografica Secondo L'Odierna Loro Esistenza Ed Illustrati co' Frammenti Dell' Antica Icnografia Marmoria, E Con Un Indice Critico Della Loro Denominazione Arrichito Di Tavole Suppletorie Fralle Quali Si Dimostrano L'elevazione degli stessi avanzi: l'andamento degli antichi Aquedotti nelle vicinanze e nel dentro di Roma, correlativo al Commentario Frontiniano ivi esposto in compendio: la Pianta delle Terme le più cospicue: del Foro Romano colle Contrade circonvicine: del Monte Capitolino: ed altre le più riguardevoli. Nel Secondo, E Nel Terzo Gli Avanzi de' Monumenti Sepolcrali esistenti in Roma, e nell' Agro Romano colle loro rispettive piante, elevazioni, sezioni, vedute esterne ed interne: colla dimostrazione de' sarcofagi, ceppi, vasi cenerari e unguentari, bassirilievi, stucchi, musaici, iscrizioni, e tuti' altro ch'è stato in essi ritrovato: e colle loro indicazioni e spiegazioni. Nel Quarto I Ponti antichi di Roma che inoggi sono in essere, colle Vestigia dell' antica Isola Tiberina, gli Avanzi de' Teatri, de' Portici, e di altri Monumenti, eziandio colle loro indicazioni e spiegazioni. Tomo Primo. (-Quarto.)

Vol. I: [6], 40, xi, [1], iii, [1], iv, iii, [3] p., port., 44 [i.e. 74] pl. (7 dble., 3 dble. and fold.); illus. Plates numbered 8-37 each carry two separate prints. Pl. 1 is the engr. dedic., pl. 2 is a map; pl. 6, 7 carry engraved text only. Some copies are without the unnumbered portrait of Piranesi; some (later) issues have a portrait of Pope Clement XIII instead; some have both portraits. In some copies (including that of the Royal Academy) the plates are additionally inscribed 'Tom. I' top left or right. - Vol. II: 63 pl. (44 dble., 1 dble. & fold.). Pl. 1 is engr. t.-pl., pl. 2 is frontis.; pl. 3 carries engraved text only. In some copies (including that of the Royal Academy) the plates are additionaly inscribed 'Tom. II' top left or right. In some (early) copies the plates are unnumbered. - Vol. III: 54 pl. (43 dble, 1 dble. & fold.) The first plate is the title-pl. In some copies (including that of the Royal Academy) the plates are additionally inscribed 'Tom. III' top left or right. In some (early) copies the plates are unnumbered. - Vol. IV: 57 (23 dble., 5 dble. & fold.). The first plate is the title-pl.; the third carries engraved text only. In some copies (including that of the Royal Academy) the plates are additionally inscribed 'Tom. IV' top right or left. In some (early) copies the plates are unnumbered. Some (early) copies are without the final plate LVII; other (later) copies have both this and also two additional plates inserted between pl. XLIV and XLV (one numbered XLIV, the other unnumbered).

This work is a fruit of Piranesi's admiration for ancient Roman architecture and an affirmation of its distinct achievements in the face of those who were emphasising the priority of the architecture of the ancient Greeks. His first archaeological publications had been the Camere sepolcrali (ca. 1752) and the Trofei di Ottaviano Augusto (1753); but in 1754, having, as he believed, the promise of sponsorship from Lord Charlemont, he began preparing this much larger work.

The work incorporates earlier plates, and itself went through several issues.

Reused here (Vol. II. pl. 8-10, 16, 39 and Vol. III. pl. 1, 12, 21, 23-26) are twelve plates of the Camere sepolcrali. And several of the 60 small plates of Volume I, which resemble the picturesque views made by Piranesi at the beginning of his career for various Roman guide-books, may originally have been made for other purposes (views XV(2) and XVII(2) were evidently made before 1747 and 1746 respectively).

The first issue has most plates unnumbered and without volume numbers, and probably included the portrait of Piranesi by Polanzani. In January 1757 the lettering of the dedication plate (to Ld. Charlemont) was erased. In October 1757 issues appeared with a replacement dedication in Volume I (to 'Utilitati Publicae') and altered dedications in Volumes III, IV, and perhaps with some of the text re-set (cf. leaf A1 in one of the British Library copies). (In the same year Piranesi's two hostile letters to Charlemont were published; and are sometimes found bound in with the Antichità Romane.) Later in 1757 a plate (LVII) was added to Volume IV (and the list of subjects on pl. III of that volume updated accordingly). In 1761 plate III of Volume II was reworked to include at the foot Piranesi's imprint and address (a new address in Strada Felice); and it was probably now that the portrait of Clement XIII was added to (or in some copies substituted for) that of Piranesi. (This portrait of the pope was also used in Piranesi's Della Magnificenza of 1761.) Lastly, two plates showing the temple of Juno were added between plates XLIV and XLV of Volume IV and pl. XLV was reworked. In 1784 a new edition was produced by Francesco Piranesi, which has a re-set letter-press, a new dedication (to Gustav III), a new portrait of Piranesi replacing that by Polanzani, and two new plates in Volume I (pl. XLV and XLVI).

The Royal Academy's copy appears to be an issue of 1761 or later; for it has all plates numbered and carrying volume numbers, the new 1757 dedication and new 1757 plate LVII in Volume IV, and the reworked 1761 plate III of Volume II incorporating Piranesi's imprint with his new address. But it retains the Polanzani portrait of Piranesi (rather than that of Clement XIII); and it doesn't have the additional plates between plates XLIV and XLV of Volume IV. (Moreover its copy has bound in after plate XXXVIII of Volume I the plate XXXVIII of Piranesi's Della Magnificenza Ed Architettura De' Romani of 1761.)

The difference between Piranesi and Lord Charlemont which led to the conspicuous alterations in the dedication plates of this work was based on a misunderstanding. Discussing his project with Charlemont in 1754, Piranesi believed that he had the promise of Charlemont's patronage in return for the engraved dedication. When financial support was not forthcoming from Charlemont or his agent in Rome, Piranesi in 1757 excised Charlemont's name from the engraved dedication - in imitation of the ancient Roman practice of 'damnatio memoriae', whereby the Senate would excise the names of disgraced persons from public monuments - and published two Lettere Di Giustificazione setting out his side of the argument. Early in 1758 he expanded this publication to three letters with annotations; but in March that year was induced to publish a luke-warm apology.

An immediate and more positive out-come of this great feat of publication was Piranesi's election in April 1757 to fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in London, a recognition to which he refers on the title-plates of almost all his succeeding publications.