Description:

Francis Petrarch
Venice, Italy, ca. 1575
Rare 16th C. Copy of Venetian Friar's Religious Revision of Petrarch's "Il Canzoniere," His Epic Laura Poems
Book

The Italian humanist poet Petrarch (1304-1374) wrote "Il Canzoniere" - a series of 366 poems inspired by his burning love for the beautiful and unobtainable Laura - over the course of his lifetime. After Petrarch's death, the Venetian friar Girolamo Malipiero rewrote Petrarch's "Il Canzoniere," transforming what he viewed as Petrarch's overly worldly and sensual work into one concerned with God and religious devotion. Malipiero used the first line or first few lines from each of Petrarch's original poems and then changed the rest of the stanza, often substituting Jesus Christ for Laura. Our edition of Malipiero's work does not appear to include all of Petrarch's poems, stopping around 353 or 354 of the original 366, but the remainder are here present in the original Early Modern Italian.

A later printing of Girolamo Malipiero, "Il Petrarca Spirituale di Frate Hieronimo Malipiero Venetiano, Dell Ordine de Minori d'Osservanza" (Venice: Appresso Dominico Farri, 1575). A hardcover copy in contemporary calf skin covers and manuscript gilt titling to the spine. Featuring a woodcut depicting Eastern travelers and a kneeling camel on the title page; and a woodcut depicting a sea goddess harnessing dolphins on the Sonnets title page. Expected wear including isolated foxing and scattered minor insect loss to the title page and first few front endpapers, else mostly clean within. Two ownership inscriptions appear: a crossed-out inscription on the front pastedown endpaper from 1842; and an inscription relating to an American collector, Timothy H. Reardon (1839-1892), on one of the front free endpapers. After the initial dialogue between Petrarch and Girolamo Malipiero, the book is paginated pp. 1-162. Also includes a Table of Contents. 4.25" x 5.875" x 1." 16mo.

Girolamo Malipiero's revision of Petrarch's "Il Canzoniere" went through 8 editions between 1536 and 1587, making this 1575 imprint one of the last editions, all of which are rare. Just as Petrarch inspired Girolamo Malipiero to submit his own improved version, "Il Petrarca Spirituale" resulted in several spirited defenses of Petrarch's original text.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.875" x 1"
  • Medium: Book

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