Details
FLORIO, John (1553?-1625). Florio's Second Frutes, to be gathered of twelve trees, of divers but deligthful tastes to the tongues of Italians and Englishmen. London: [T. Orwin] for Thomas Woodcock, 1591.
2 parts in one volume, 4° (189 x 130mm). Woodcut border to each part [McKerrow and Ferguson 133], part 1 with Italian and English on facing pages, part 2 with alphabetical listing of proverbs in Italian only. With final blank. (First leaf with repair at corner touching on border, A4 repaired at corner tip, some light waterstains, some creasemarks to early quires.) 18th-century polished calf (rebacked, covers rubbed, upper cover detached).
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of Florio's Second Frutes, following publication of his First Fruites in 1578. He joined to it the Gardine of Recreation, a collection of 6000 Italian proverbs, 'the largest proverb list to be published in the sixteenth century'. Dedicated to Nicholas Saunder of Ewell, his second manual 'was aimed, as before, at the educated upper classes among whom Florio moved, but now the early moralising tone of the First Fruites was replaced by a more joyous celebration of life. The Second Frutes contained a wealth of popular phrases and proverbs set into dialogues depicting everyday genteel activities, such as playing tennis or chess or attending a banquet, presented in a way that would enable the student of Italian speedily to develop colloquial and graceful conversational skills, and at the same time learn of the more refined manner and customs of the Italians' (Desmond O'Connor in ODNB). The theory that Shakespeare was, in fact, the cultured Italian Florio was first advanced in Italy in the 1920s. Lowndes I, p. 812; Pforzheimer 377; STC 11097 & 11100.
2 parts in one volume, 4° (189 x 130mm). Woodcut border to each part [McKerrow and Ferguson 133], part 1 with Italian and English on facing pages, part 2 with alphabetical listing of proverbs in Italian only. With final blank. (First leaf with repair at corner touching on border, A4 repaired at corner tip, some light waterstains, some creasemarks to early quires.) 18th-century polished calf (rebacked, covers rubbed, upper cover detached).
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of Florio's Second Frutes, following publication of his First Fruites in 1578. He joined to it the Gardine of Recreation, a collection of 6000 Italian proverbs, 'the largest proverb list to be published in the sixteenth century'. Dedicated to Nicholas Saunder of Ewell, his second manual 'was aimed, as before, at the educated upper classes among whom Florio moved, but now the early moralising tone of the First Fruites was replaced by a more joyous celebration of life. The Second Frutes contained a wealth of popular phrases and proverbs set into dialogues depicting everyday genteel activities, such as playing tennis or chess or attending a banquet, presented in a way that would enable the student of Italian speedily to develop colloquial and graceful conversational skills, and at the same time learn of the more refined manner and customs of the Italians' (Desmond O'Connor in ODNB). The theory that Shakespeare was, in fact, the cultured Italian Florio was first advanced in Italy in the 1920s. Lowndes I, p. 812; Pforzheimer 377; STC 11097 & 11100.
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