Bought in 1788 together with the instruments of the London firm Dollond [files 37-41], it is cited in the archive records as "wide-field telescope by Dollond", even though it bears the words Gilbert & Co/London.
It is correctly cited in Ceschi’s 1843 inventory:
"Hand-held wide-field telescope by the Englishman Gilbert for examining the Sky, with mahogany tube, and its fittings in brass.
There is a second cardboard tube mount for this telescope with metal and boxwood finishings to make it lighter to handle."
An altazimuth mount [Inv. MdS-79] exists for this instrument on a tripod [Inv. MdS-161], signed Lodovico Ludovisi a Bologna. We know from the notes made by Saporetti in 1849 to Ceschi’s inventory that at that time Ludovisi was "Macchinista" (or mechanic) at the Specola. We also know that, on account of its wide field, Gilbert’s telescope was used as comet finder.

E. Baiada, A. Braccesi (1983), p. 124.
H. Minow (1990), p. 278.