BLAEU (Joan) and BORGOGNIO (Gio Tomaso). Theatre des Estats de son Altesse Royale le Duc de Savoye, prince de Piémont, roi de Cypre. The Hague, Adriaen Moetjens, 1700. 2 vol. in-folio, full calf bindings, double gilt surround with gilt ornament on boards, richly decorated ribbed spines, gilt heads (corners and headpieces restored) (publisher's bindings). First French edition of this fundamental work, the finest existing book on Savoy, the original edition of which appeared in Latin in 1682, the translation being by Jacques Bernard. Illustrated with two title vignettes and 140 etched plates, mostly on double pages, some folding, most of which were drawn by Giovani Tomaso Borgonio and engraved by Joannes de Ram; however, the portraits of Charles-Emmanuel II and his wife Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste de Savoie are the work of Robert de Nanteuil, ordinary engraver to King Louis XIV. The texts are mainly by Emanuele Tesoro and Pierre Gioffredo. The cavalier views represent the main towns and remarkable sites of Savoy, Piedmont, the Aosta Valley and the county of Nice, which were then united in the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Volume I comprises: [1]-[2] blanks, [3] allegorical frontispiece, [4] blank, [5] title printed in red and black with a vignette, [6] blank, [7] portrait of Victor Amédée II, [8] blank, [9] to [12]: publisher's dedication to Victor-Amédée II, [13]: coat of arms of Savoy, [14]: blank, [15]: portrait of Charles-Emmanuel II by Célestin Nanteuil, [16]: blank, [17]-[18]: poem dedicated to Charles-Emmanuel III, [19]: portrait of Jeanne-Baptiste de Savoie by Célestin Nanteuil, [20]: blank, [21]-[22]: poem dedicated to Jeanne-Baptiste de Savoie, [23]-[30]: short essay on the history of the House of Savoy. Pages 1-129: text, [130]: index, [131]-[132]: blanks. The hors-texte illustrations include 4 single plates, 57 double plates (including the genealogy of the House of Savoy and the map of Piedmont), 4 triple plates and 1 quadruple (view of Turin). Volume II comprises: [1]-[2]: blanks, [3] allegorical frontispiece, [4]: blank, [5]: Title in red and black with vignette, [6]: blank, [7] to [12]: Introduction, [13]-[14]: Confins de la Savoie. Pages 1 to 183: Text, [184]: blank, [185]: Index, [186] to [188]: blank. The hors-texte illustrations include 6 single plates, 56 double plates, 1 triple plate and 6 quadruple plates (Thonon, Aosta, Mondovi, Garessio, Bielle and Andorno). The work was produced between 1660 and 1682; it was commissioned from Joan Blaeu by the City of Turin and the Duke of Savoy Charles-Emmanuel II, who was succeeded after his death in 1675 by his widow, who had become Regent. The terrible fire in Blaeu's workshop in 1672, followed by his death the following year, delayed the publication of the work, as many of the copper plates had disappeared or been damaged. It was not until 1682 that Joan Blaeu's heirs were able to send Duke Victor-Amédée II fifty copies of the Theatrum, four of which were coloured in their workshops. Poorly paid for their efforts, they published a Dutch edition in 1693, then sold the copperplates to the publisher Adriaen Moetjens, who published a second Dutch edition in 1697, followed by this first French edition. The baton was then passed to Rutgert Christoffel Alberts, who published a third Dutch edition and a second French edition in 1725, as well as a second Latin edition in 1726. All these printings are of high quality and were made in small numbers. A copy with virtually no foxing or creasing to the plates. Two small tears without missing (3 cm) in the lower margins of page 175 and the verso of the plate of Tende (volume II). A superb copy in its skilfully restored original binding. Perret, 0487 - Regards sur les Alpes 7 - Luigi Firpo, Giuseppe Bocchino, Ada Peyrot, Isabella Ricci and Rosanna Roccia in Theatrum Sabaudiae, Historical Archives of the City of Turin, 1984