Tue May 2, 2023 06:39 PM

I hasn’t heard anything about _ Le Pompe di Minerva_ that the Morgan Library was supposed to have scanned in March, so I emailed at the end of last week. They apologized and sent me the scanned files a couple of hours ago! The images aren’t up on their online collection yet, but hopefully that will happen soon.

The book is probably an 18th century reprint of Fortunato’s 1642 publication, but it is the only known copy. It is the last of the Italian/French books Lotz identifies and there aren’t any new patterns, but it is an interesting compilation with 70 pages. It reminds me a great deal of Ostaus’ _La vera perfettione del disegno_. There are designs from Quentel, Vavasore, Pagano, Vecellio, and quite a few from Ciotti, so it mixes the bold embroidery and weaving patterns with the later needlelace. Also of interest are the large empty spots in the printing, as many of the plates are done from obviously heavily damaged blocks https://www.themorgan.org/printed-books/53085