Le Vergini, E Sante Descritte In Forma D’Elogii.
Venice, G.B. Somasco 1589.
4to (197 x 144 mm.). [iix], 50, [1]p. Woodcut portrait of the dedicatee, Pope Sixtus V (1521-90), his woodcut arms on the title, woodcut Somasco device on the final recto.
CONTEMPORARY LIMP VELLUM with slightly overlapping edges (fore-edges scuffed), contemporary manuscript spine title, evidence of four pigskin ties.
With: Dolce, Lodovico. 1508-1568. With: Moro, Maurizio. fl. 1585. With: Valvasone, Erasmo di. 1523-1593. Ad I-IV: Collection of religious poetry in Italian, applying the stylistic canons of Petrarch and Ariosto to sacred subjects in line with Counter-Reformation ideals. All works are in good condition.
La Vita Di Givseppe, Discritta In Ottava Rima. Venice, G. Giolito de’ Ferrari 1561. 43, [1] leaves. three woodcuts of episodes of joseph’s life framed by grotesque border strips, two woodcut Giolito devices on the title and on the final recto.
Rappresentatione Del Figlivolo Prodigo. Venice, [F. de’ Franceschi Senese] for Carlo Pipini 1585. [xvi], [56]p. Emblematic title woodcut.
Angeleida. Venice, G.B. Somasco 1590. [iv], 64 leaves. Woodcut Somasco title device.
Ad I: First Edition of these sonnets celebrating seven episodes in the life of Mary (including her immaculate conception) and THE LIFE AND MARTYRDOM OF FORTY-FOUR FEMALE SAINTS — in alphabetic order, Anne to Theodora. No copies in the U.S.
¶EDIT 16 CNCE 14233.
Ad II: Only Edition of this SACRED POEM CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF JOSEPH, the Old Testament hero. Each of the poem’s three books begins with an illustration from the story. Dolce also worked for the Giolito as an editor.
¶EDIT 16 CNCE 17375; Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari II: 130; Essling, Les livres à figures vénitiens II: 676.
Ad III: Only Edition. Moro dedicated this verse religious drama to a Padua noble, whose young children acted in the play (it was staged the year before from a manuscript version). The printed edition adds over one hundred stanzas and STAGE DIRECTIONS ON SCENERY, PROPS AND MUSIC.
¶EDIT 16 CNCE 54216; Rhodes, Silent Printers. Anonymous printing at Venice in the sixteenth century M26 (“not a printer’s device”); Cioni, Bibliografia delle Sacre Rappresentazioni 142,XXXb.
Ad IV: First Edition. lLONG CONSIDERED A MODEL FOR MILTON’S PARADISE LOST, Valvasone’s sacred epic in ottava rima describes Lucifer’s rebellion and the subsequent battle of angels and demons. Inspired by Tasso’s recently published Gerusalemme liberata (1581), the poem incorporates motifs of romances of chivalry: i.a., a dramatic final duel between Lucifer and the Archangel Michael.
¶EDIT 16 CNCE 64067; Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua 490; see Franzoni’s Erasmo di Valvasone e la sua Angeleida (PhD diss. 2021) 128-38.
Price: $5,800.00