Dante Early Printed : Proemio : Comento di christophoro Landino fiorentino sopra la comedia di Danthe alighieri poeta fiorentino

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Dante Early Printed

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This folio format edition was printed by the Venetian Octavianus Scotus ‘Adi .xxiii. di Marzo .M.cccc.Lxxxiiii’ [i.e. 23 March 1484]. It is the second edition to contain Cristoforo Landino’s ‘Commento’, an extensive vernacular gloss on Dante’s text. Both the poem and the commentary are printed in roman typeface, with the commentary in a slightly smaller font. The cantos are neatly and consistently divided by capitalised sub-titles which announce the canto and cantica numbers. Running headers at the top of each page display the cantica (on the verso) and canto number (on the recto), making it possible for the reader to orient themselves within the text. Spaces with guide letters are left for the inclusion of larger initial capitals at the start of each section of the commentary, and the first letter of each canto is printed with a white-on-black floriated initial that is considerably larger than the rest of the font. The start of each cantica is marked with an even larger white-on-black floriated initial.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The Rylands holds three copies of this edition. This copy was part of the library of the Earls Spencer, acquired in 1892 by Enriqueta Rylands from John Poyntz Spencer (1835-1910), 5th Earl Spencer, for The John Rylands Library. The first page of this copy <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(9);return false;'>a1r</a> displays a remarkably detailed hand drawn and coloured replica of the frontispiece from another edition of Dante, a facsimile of the Dante portrait first printed in Francesco Sansovino’s 1564 Commedia, produced in Venice by the Sessa family (see R52859). The edition also displays a number of decorated initials include three 9-line initials at the beginning of the Inferno on <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(29);return false;'>b1r</a>, Purgatorio on <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(263);return false;'>q6r</a>, and Paradiso on <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(416);return false;'>B2v</a>, are illuminated in gold, hand-coloured in yellow, and bordered in purple and maroon. Other initials remain uncoloured, while minor initials are supplied in alternating red and blue. On the lower margin of <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(29);return false;'>b1r</a> a green wreath encloses an unidentified coat of arms featuring a red tower with three fleur-de-lis on a blue shield set against a gold ground, and flanked by two putti, each holding a horn. PH is inscribed on the left and Y on the right.</p>