Malta.- Acciard (Michele) Mustafà Bassà di Rodi schiavo in Malta, o sia la di lui congiura all'occupazione di Malta, first edition, engraved portrait frontispiece after Richard Dalton, title with woodcut ornament, decorative woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials, engraved armorial bookplate, some light browning, scattered foxing, small damp-stain to fore-margin towards end, contemporary vellum, rubbed and lightly soiled, spine with a couple very small portions of loss, 4to, Naples, Appresso Benedetto ed Ignazio Gessari, 1751.

⁂ A controversial account of the 1749 Muslim slave revolt in Malta, a failed conspiracy to assassinate Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca and take over the island. This work, also attributed to the historian and patriot Francesco Agius de Soldanis, attacked the order and argued for the rights of the Maltese, questioning the governing ability of the Grand Master. Following its publication copies were sought out and destroyed, with de Soldanis having to defend himself to Pope Benedict XIV. Scarce, we can trace only one copy at auction (Sotheby's, 1974).