Autograph Album of the Countess Anna Laetitia Pecci

An extraordinary autograph album, assembled by Countess Anna Laetitia Pecci, the Italian noblewoman, patron and collector, granddaughter of Pope Leo XIII, who was very active in the cultural sphere, opening numerous salons, galleries and theaters in Rome, Paris and New York. The album, signed "Anna Leticia Pecci" on the first page and identified on the following as "Palazzo Pecci Blunt / 3 Piazza Aracoeli," records dinners and parties at the famed Roman Palazzo Fani in Piazza d'Aracoeli, renamed Palazzo Pecci Blunt, which became the venue for important events from the early 1930s, the present album containing entries from 27 March, 1952 through 12 April, 1970.  The subsequent pages are full of autograph signatures from the many luminaries from all spheres of public life who attended parties and salons at this famed address: film directors, actors and actresses, composers, singers, instrumentalists, poets, writers, painters, politicians, financiers etc. etc.

Several hundred autographs signatures are found across 84 packed pages, including some who appear multiple times (including Petrassi, Moravia, Morante etc. ). A small selection of the many international names of note includes:  Balthus, Elisabeth of Bavaria Queen of Belgians, Georges Auric, Samuel Barber, Darius Milhaud, Virgil Thomson, Victor Brauner, Marcelle Meyer, Joseph Fuchs, Marie-Claire and Nicolas Nabokov, Alan Rawsthorne, Elliot Carter, Jules Romains, Roland Redmond, Philippe de Rothschild, Madeleine Renaud, Jacques Ibert, Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Herbert List, Alexander and Clotilde Sakharoff, Rudolf Paumgartner, Marcel Achard, Jean-Louis Barrault, George Pretre, Pierre Bernac, Nicolai Gedda, Paul Collaer etc. Among the many notable Italians who have signed are: Luchino Visconti, Nino Rota, Anna Magnani, Goffredo Petrassi, Nicola Rescigno, Alberto Moravia, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Corrado Cagli, Alberto Savirio, Ugo Moretti, Mario Peragallo, Elsa Morante, Alberto Sordi, Sesto Bruscantini, Elsa Respighi, Yvonne Casella, Carla Fracci etc. 

Some of the gatherings of signatures are further identified by events. There are entries from various New Year's Eve parties; a 28 March, 1956 luncheon held in honor of the French writer Jules Romains; an entry of 15 January, 1960 records the first performance of a production of Chekhov's The Seagull, and includes among the attendees the famed film director Luchino Visconti;  the entry of 20 January, 1964 records the signing attendees (including conductor Rudolf Paumgartner) as from the "Mozart Kammeroper di Salizburgo 'Cosi fan tutte'" and includes also a drawing of the performance. 

Octavo, 6.25 x 8.25 inches (16 x 21 cm), 84 pp (42 sheets, signed recto/verso), gilt-stamped vellum, pages edged in gilt. Very fine condition.  (22974)

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