Gerusalemme Liberata
Paris: Prault, 1768. 2 vols, 12mo, 5 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches (136 x 80 mm). Vol. 1: front. title, 2nd frontispiece, iii, 326; Vol. 2: title, 333 pp. Text in Italian. Frontispiece by Godefroy After, Nicolas Cochin, two titles by Aveline after Moreau, and portrait by Demautort. Contemporary bindings in red morocco with gold fillet frames on boards, raised bands, gilt floral decorations and title in compartments; gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, a.e.g. Pages evenly toned with very light offset opposite engraved illustrations, bindings have a little rubbing on the corners and spines sunned, but they are tight and square.
Armorial bookplates of John Samuel Graves and of Soldati-Hubbard de Veaux pasted inside front cover of both volumes; penned signature of J.S. Graves on first free endpaper, vol. 1.
[Brunet V, 667].
This handsome "pocket" edition of Torquato Tasso's masterpiece features engraved titles, frontispiece and portrait of the author. 'Jerusalem Delivered' is an epic poem, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade in which Christian knights battle Muslims to take Jerusalem. Tasso's choice of subject matter had a topical resonance to readers of the period when the Ottoman Empire was advancing through Eastern Europe. Tasso began work on the poem in the mid-1560's and considered it completed in 1575 when he read his work to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara and Lucrezia, Duchess of Urbino. A pirate edition of 14 cantos from the poem appeared in Venice in 1580. When the first complete editions of Gerusalemme Liberata were published in Parma and Ferrara in 1581, they were an instant success and more editions, many illustrated, followed in the next decades. The work was translated and diffused throughout Europe; sections or moments from the story were used in works in other media all over Europe, providing stories that combined love, violence, and an exotic setting.
Condition: Near fine.
Item number: 1455
Price: $600.00
Share: