Campioni dei nuovi uniformi per i Cavalieri, e Taù dell'insigne sacro militare Ordine di S. Stefano P. e M. approvati da S. A. I. e R. il serenissimo Gran Maestro nell'anno 1839

MILITARY UNIFORMS
 
Folio (310x225). [2], 9, [1 blank], and X lithographic colored plates (Lit. Ballagny). Later marbled cardboards. Some marginal foxing but a very good copy.
 
First edition. The text opens with a statement on the renewal of the Order's uniforms signed by the Vice-Chancellor Corrado Della Volta Montanelli (dated Pisa, February 11, 1840), and contains a meticulous description of the 25 subjects illustrated in the 10 plates, which show the uniforms as well as several details of them.
The Sacro Militare Ordine di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire (Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr) was founded in 1561 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici and was dissolved in 1859, when Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia (later Kingdom of Italy). The main purpose of the Order was that of fighting the Ottoman Turks and the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea and of patrolling the Tuscan coasts. The Order took part in the siege of Malta (1565) and the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and in the 17th century, when it reached its peak in terms both of dimension and power, the knights made some incursions into the Aegean Islands controlled by the Turks and took part in the campaigns in Dalmatia, Negroponte, and Corfu.
 
Italina Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\CSA\0031596.