Dante Early Printed : Danthe alighieri fiorentino

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Dante Early Printed

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This edition was printed by the Venetian printer Petrus de Quarengiis in October 1497. With some small alterations, it is a reprint of Capcasa’s second edition of the Commedia, issued in 1493 (see R20724). The text in Quaregnii’s edition is closely modelled on that of Capcasa’s 1493 Commedia, although the colophon <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(619);return false;'>N5r</a> combines the language of Plasiis’ 1491 Commedia with that of Capcasa’s editions, starting, like Plasiis’ colophon, with the phrase ‘fine del comento di Christoforo Landino’ instead of the phrase ‘finita e lop[er]a deli[n]clyto & divo da[n]the alleghieri’, which appears in Capcasa’s colophon. A similar mixing can be noted in the visual programme. While the illustration and decoration of Inferno I <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(28);return false;'>2a1v</a> uses the full-page woodcut and decorative frames first printed in Capcasa’s 1493 edition (see R20724), all of the other illustrations are from the woodcut series used to illustrate the individual canti in Petrus de Plasiis’ 1491 Commedia. This striking mixing of the woodcut series shows a remarkable level of exchange between the three print houses. The woodcut series first printed in Plasiis’ 1491 Commedia, however, lacks three blocks (those for Par. XXVIII, XXX, and XXXIII). In Quarengiis’ 1497 Commedia these are filled with repetitions of the blocks for Par. XXVII [which appears at <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(589);return false;'>L10r</a> and <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(593);return false;'>M2r</a>], Par. XVII [which appears at <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(550);return false;'>I6v</a> and <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(602);return false;'>M6v</a>], and Par. XXXII [which appears at <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(610);return false;'>M10v</a> and <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(614);return false;'>N2v</a>], respectively.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This copy has a twentieth-century binding in full brown goatskin over wooden boards, crafted by Rivière & Son.</p>