RYCAUT Paul, “Istoria dello stato presente dell’Imperio Ottomano...”, Venice, Combi & La Nou, 1672. FIRST ITALIAN EDITION of Rycaut’s Present State of the Ottoman Empire. Large 8vo, (21.5 x 16cm). Engraved frontispiece and 20 rare engravings in text. Engraved initials and woodcut chapter decorations. Full vellum, light waterstain throughout. Some pages marginally restored, missing one sheet (pages 287-288) quite often in these early editions. “An extremely important and influential work” (Blackmer). Rycaut went to Constantinople in 1661 as private secretary of the English ambassador to the Porte Heneage Finch. The engravings of Turkish costumes are after the kiyafet or costume book which Rycaut had commissioned from an artist of the Constantinople’s bazaar. One of the first systematic efforts for a detailed description of the Ottoman Empire, its rise, its society and customs. Atabey 1070, not in Blackmer.