Details
DANTE Alighieri (1265-1321). La divina commedia. Commentary by Christoforo Landino and Alessandro Vellutello, edited by F. Sansovino. Venice: Domenico Nicolino, for Giovanni Battista and Melchiore Sessa and brothers, 1564.
2° (302 x 211 mm). Collation: *8 **6 ***4 +10 A-V8 X12 Y-Z8 AA-ZZ8 AAA-CCC8. 424 leaves. Text in italic with commentary surround in roman type. Large medallion portrait on title within elaborate scrollwork border with winged figures, signed "AB", 96 woodcuts in the text, including 12 repeats, woodcut initials, printer's device within scrollwork border on 3C8v. Ink correction on L6r. (Title slightly creased and repairs to gutter margin, scattered light marginal foxing, about 10 leaves severely foxed or browned, some light marginal dampstaining.) 18th-century speckled calf, spine gilt, morocco lettering-piece, edges red-stained (joints split, extremities rubbed); modern slipcase.
First edition to print the commentaries of Landino and Vellutello together, first Sansovino edition. The title portrait is new to this edition; Mortimer suggests that it may derive from a portrait of Dante by Vasari. The text woodcuts were cut for Francesco Marcolini's 1544 edition of Vellutello's commentary and were used again by the Sessa brothers for their 1578 and 1596 editions of Dante. "Marcolini's artist shows himself independent of the earlier editions. While the fifteenth-century blocks could serve as a quick reference for figures in the text, these 1544 blocks are an extension of the commentary, a more instructive form of illustration"(Mortimer, p. 207).
Adams D-103; Essling 546; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 147.
2° (302 x 211 mm). Collation: *8 **6 ***4 +10 A-V8 X12 Y-Z8 AA-ZZ8 AAA-CCC8. 424 leaves. Text in italic with commentary surround in roman type. Large medallion portrait on title within elaborate scrollwork border with winged figures, signed "AB", 96 woodcuts in the text, including 12 repeats, woodcut initials, printer's device within scrollwork border on 3C8v. Ink correction on L6r. (Title slightly creased and repairs to gutter margin, scattered light marginal foxing, about 10 leaves severely foxed or browned, some light marginal dampstaining.) 18th-century speckled calf, spine gilt, morocco lettering-piece, edges red-stained (joints split, extremities rubbed); modern slipcase.
First edition to print the commentaries of Landino and Vellutello together, first Sansovino edition. The title portrait is new to this edition; Mortimer suggests that it may derive from a portrait of Dante by Vasari. The text woodcuts were cut for Francesco Marcolini's 1544 edition of Vellutello's commentary and were used again by the Sessa brothers for their 1578 and 1596 editions of Dante. "Marcolini's artist shows himself independent of the earlier editions. While the fifteenth-century blocks could serve as a quick reference for figures in the text, these 1544 blocks are an extension of the commentary, a more instructive form of illustration"(Mortimer, p. 207).
Adams D-103; Essling 546; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 147.