Dante Early Printed : Danthe alighieri Fiorentino historiado

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Dante Early Printed

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This edition was printed in Venice in 1507 by Bartholomeo de Zanni. It reuses the now slightly antiquated format of the large folio Commedie first printed in 1491, but displays several noteworthy editorial innovations. Foremost among these is the choice to combine the text of Landino’s Comento with Bembo’s edition of the Commedia, first printed by Aldus Manutius in 1502 (see R213786). Another shift can be seen in the title, which uses a gothic typeface similar to the one used in Capcasa’s 1491 Commedia but changes the language, emphasising the visual accompaniment (‘Danthe alighieri fiorentino historiado’) <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(727);return false;'>a1r</a>. As in Quarengi’s 1497 edition, this edition mixes the two wood block series first published in 1491. Most of the cuts come from the blocks first printed by Capacasa (see R64485), including the full-page illumination and frame for Inf. I <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(929);return false;'>a2r</a>. The illustrations for Par. I <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(469);return false;'>B6r</a> and Par. XXVIII <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(594);return false;'>K2v</a>, however, are taken from the slightly larger woodcut series first printed in Petrus de Plasiis’ 1491 Commedia (see Spencer 5121). Some repetitions and substitutions are visible. The image for Purg. XXVIII was first employed as the image for Par. XXVII, and the image for Purg. 1 <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(47);return false;'>b3r</a> is a repetition of one of the smaller blocks first printed by Capacasa and also included in this edition at Purg. XIII <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(364);return false;'>y1v</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This copy has three manuscript inscriptions on <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(727);return false;'>a1r</a>. The earliest, dated to 1512, connects the book to one Bernardinus Antonius de Camporotundo and to the Sicilian city of Catania, in which Camporotondo Etneo is a municipality. A slightly later inscription bears the name of Orazio Bucelli composer and copyist who lived between 1760 and 1830, approximately. A third inscription in black ink displays the phrase ‘Voir a la fin du livre’ [look at the end of the book] above a handwritten reference to the printing information in the colophon (‘Venetia per bartolomeo de Zanni 1507’). The <a dir='auto' href='' onclick='store.loadPage(1);return false;'>front cover</a> features the nineteenth-century monogram of The John Rylands Library, JR within a roundel, stamped in gilt.</p>