Beschreibung:

DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265-1321). La Commedia . Commentary by Cristoforo Landino (1424-1504), commendations by Marsilio Ficino (1433-99). Florence: Nicolaus Laurentii, 30th August 1481. Royal 2 o (406 x 270mm). Collation : π 8 2 π 6 (-π1 blank, π2r Landino's introduction, 2 π3v Ficino's commendations, 2 π6 blank; a 1 0 b 8 c-e 1 0 f 8 g 1 0 h-i 8 l 1 0 m-n 8 o-r 1 0 s 6 (Inferno text and commentary, engraved illustrations to the first two cantos on a2r and b1v); aa-gg 1 0 hh 1 2 ll-mm 1 0 oo 6 (aa1 blank, aa2r Landino's prologue to Purgatorio, aa3r Purgatorio); A 8 B-H 1 0 I 6 L 1 2 (A1r Landino's prologue to Paradiso, verso blank, A2r Paradiso, L10v colophon, -L11-12 blanks). 369 leaves (without the first and two final blanks). Roman types 4B:115 (text), 5:91 (commentary). 60 lines of commentary surrounding text. Initial-spaces with guides-letters, catchword on last page of some quires. Blank illustration spaces preceding most cantos; TWO ENGRAVINGS BY BACCIO BALDINI AFTER BOTTICELLI illustrating cantos 1 and 2 of Inferno , both in fine impressions. (Marginal repair to π2, π8, 2 π1 [text affected] and I3, a few other leaves with more minor repair, marginal repair to a2 slightly affecting engraving, a few light stains.) Blind-panelled modern brown morocco. Provenance : A few 16th-century Italian manuscript marginalia -- [Philip C. Duschnes (bookseller's label)] -- Francis Kettaneh (gilt morocco bookplate), sold at Drouot, Ader Picard Tajan, 20 May 1980, lot 30 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, January 1981. FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF DANTE AND THE SECOND FLORENTINE ILLUSTRATED BOOK. First edition of Landino's commentary and the first Florentine edition of the Divina Commedia . This monumental but unfinished book was designed as a patriotic celebration of Florentine cultural superiority, about which Landino's and Ficino's prefatory essays could hardly be more explicit. The printer was a German from Breslau, who turned out almost fifty editions over a ten-year period from the mid-1470s to 1486. His greatest distinction is to have been responsible for three books illustrated with engravings, of which Antonio Bettini's Monte Santo di Dio is the earliest (1477) and the Dante the most remarkable. The original plan had been to illustrate all the cantos, but something interfered and only 19 of the 100 engravings were finally executed. Most copies, including this one, have only the first two engravings, which were printed directly on the page; only about twenty copies are known to contain the other seventeen engravings, which were pulled on separate slips and pasted into the spaces provided. See Hind, Early Italian Engraving I, 99-116. The Botticelli models for these book illustrations were probably an earlier version (now lost) of the remarkable series of drawings now divided between the Berlin State Library and the Vatican and recently reunited for a travelling exhibition. LARGE, FRESH COPY. HC *5946; GW 7966; BMC VI, 628; IGI 360; Sander 2311; Arnim 115; Goff D-29.