Vulcanology.- Tata (Domenico)

Lettera sul monte Vulture a sua eccellenza il signor D. Guglielmo Hamilton, 2 parts in one, includes ‘Dell’etimologia del Monte Volture. Lettera… di Ciro Saverio Minervino’, engraved vignettes, 2 depicting the mount Vulture (one on title), by Giuseppe Guerra, 5 plates by R. Melluso, occasional light spotting, contemporary half leather, spine gilt with floral motifs and lettering piece, endpapers toned, spine tail and corners a little rubbed, 8vo, Stamperia Simoniana, Naples, 1778.

*** Scarce work on features and etymology of the Mount Vulture, an extinct vulcan located 56 km north of the city Potenza in the Basilicata region. Tata wrote many reports on volcanic eruptions, many of them in the form of letters to the renowned vulcanologist and archaeologist Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803). Ciro Saverio Minervini, jurist from Molfetta (1734-1805) was also a scholar and collector, whose knowledge ranged from natural history to antiquity. He was member from 1789 of the Giunta di Antichità led by Domenico Venuti with the purpose of searching for antiques for the Royal collection.