[ACADEMY OF GELATI]. Memorie imprese, e ritratti de' signori accademici Gelati di Bologna Raccolte nel Principato del Signor conte Valerio Zani il ritardato. Bologna: Manolessi, 1672. - In-4, 208 x 151: (12 ff.), 418 pp. misfigured 406, (1 f.). Soft parchment, smooth spine, spotted edges (period binding). First edition of this rare work dedicated to the Academy of Gelati of Bologna, a literary academy founded in 1588 by the physician, philosopher and poet Melchiorre Zoppio (1554-1634), which remained active until the end of the 18th century. Edited by the poet and historian Valerio Zani (...-1696), the work begins with an epistle to the cardinal and orientalist Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), honorary member and patron of the Academy at the time, signed by the Italian scholar Giovanno Battista Capponi (1620-1675) and dated 29 December 1671. The table and 101 short biographies of the members of this learned society follow. The edition is richly and beautifully illustrated, with a title-frontispiece engraved by Hubert van Otteren from Liège, a full-page illustration of the Academy's emblem (a forest of frost-covered trees) engraved by Lorenzo Tinti (16..-1672) after a drawing by the painter Agostino Carracci (1557-1602), and a banner with the same emblem. The 101 biographies are each accompanied by an engraving. Thirty-one have a portrait and 70 have the emblem of the personality in question. Among the portraits are those of Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644), the poet Andrea Barbazza (1581?-1656), the physician and man of letters Andrea Mariani (1593-1661), the astronomer and poet Cornelio Malvasia (1602-1664), the poet and playwright Giovanni Capponi (1586-1629), the poet Girolamo Preti (1582-1626), the historian and moralist Virgilio Malvezzi (1595-1654), etc. The emblems are not signed and the portraits were mostly engraved by Lorenzo Tinti and Hubert van Otteren. A good copy in contemporary binding, very well preserved despite the browned spine. Edges of the first two leaves slightly soiled, stains on leaves +++3 and +++4, not serious.