The Journeys of Casanova

Having lived in cities including Vienna, Paris, Rome, London, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Madrid, Giacomo Casanova (1725–1796) could be described as the first cosmopolitan. On his tireless jaunts through eighteenth-century Europe, he not only encountered the beautiful and erotic but also powerful figures and artists of his time. Whether Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Frederick the Great, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, or (probably) even Mozart, Casanova knew them all. This large-format illustrated volume follows in the footsteps of the well-known libertine and couples passages from his memoirs, remarkable in so many aspects, with magnificent early photographs and charming hand-colored book illustrations. Although it was not until nearly a century later that photography's first pioneers roamed the alleys of Venice or attempted to capture the flair of Paris, these contemporary documents give an impression of the wonders that the great seducer encountered on his Grand Tour.