Read before the Royal Society on February 12 and 19, 1756, "An Account of the late Discoveries of Antiquities at Herculaneum, &c. in Two Letters from Camillo Paderni, Keeper of the Museum Herculanei, to Thomas Hollis, Esq; Translated from the Italian by Robert Watson, M.D. F.R.S." contained two letters that discussed many of the items of interest recovered during the excavation of the ruined city of Herculaneum. The first letter, dated June 28, 1755, appeared on pages 490 to 506 of the Transactions of the Royal Society; the second letter, dated July 29, 1755, appeared on pages 507 to 508 of the same volume. These letters discussed many of the items of interest recovered during the excavation of the ruined city of Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D. It is located in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae, Boscoreal and Oplontis, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which buried it in superheated pyroclastic material. It is also famous as one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in almost its original splendor, because unlike Pompeii, its burial was so deep as to ensure the building's upper stories remained intact, and the hotter ash preserved wooden household objects (beds, doors etc.) and even food. Moreover Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii with an extraordinary density of fine houses, with far more lavish use of colored marble cladding. The discovery in recent years of some 300 skeletons along the sea shore came as a surprise since it was known that the town itself had been largely evacuated. [Wikipedia]

The two-letter item is a First Edition, extracted and disbound from The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 49, For the Year 1756, pages 490-508. This volume was published in 1757. The pages, which measure approximately 6 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the first page of the first letter, a further typical page from the first letter, and the first page of the second letter.

Camillo Paderni was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1755 [Wikipedia]

Thomas Hollis (April 14, 1720, London – January 1, 1774) was an English political philosopher and author. He was an active member of the Royal Society of Arts. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1757.[Wikipedia]

Robert Watson (c 1720 – 2 March 1756) was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1751.[Wikipedia]