12mo. xii, 370 pp., French text, full calf, slightly rubbed round edges, gilt decoration on raised spine, marbled end papers, red edges, occasional spotting, copy in very good condition otherwise, François Grasset, Lausanne, first French edition, 1773.

Synopsis

Johann Hermann von Riedesel Baron of Eisenbach on Altenburg (1740 – 1785 ) was a diplomat, a traveller and a German minister.
Beloved of Greece and archaeology. In 1762 he met at Rome Winckelmann with whom he established a friendship. In 1766-67 he returned to Italy at the invitation of Winckelmann. On this occasion, from South Italy and Sicily he sent his travel notes to an antiquarian. The following year he will go to Greece and to Constantinople continuing on his European trips.
In 1771, Riedesel’s notes were published in Zurich, at the Orell, Geßner, Füßlin und Comp., Under the heading Reise durch Sizilien und Großgriechenland ( Travel through Sicily and Magna Greece ). The work will be very successful, and will be translated into French and English, becoming a fundamental text for those who are preparing to make the Grand Tour .
Goethe during his trip to Sicily in 1787 quotes Riedesel as his mentor and travel guide, having read the book in question.
“I have been hesitant and discreet enough to name a mentor I look up and listen to from time to time: I am grateful to the excellent von Riedesel, whose book I keep in the breeze as a breed or talisman. I have always liked to reflect on those personalities who possess what is lacking in mine, namely in the case at hand, a calm proposition, the certainty of purpose, clear and suitable tools, preparation and knowledge, intimate relationship with an unmatched master such as Winckelmann . And yet I can not reproach myself if I try to conquer, by surprise, strength, and cunning what ordinary ways have been denied me so far from life. May that good man intuit at this moment, among the worldly turmoil, as a grateful epigony celebrated his merits, lonely in the lonely place that fascinated him too much to make him wish to spend his days here, forgetting those he loved and from they forgot”(Goethe, Travel to Sicily)
Bibliographic ref. Blackmer, 1420. — Hage Chahine, 4046. — Weber, II, 559.