Beschreibung:

La Bruna & la Biancha. [Bologna: Bazalerius de Bazaleris (or Caligula de Bazaleriis), ca. 1495]. 4° (196 x 147mm). Collation: [1 4 ] (1/1r title, woodcut, 1/1v blank, 1/2r incipit: CHi uedesse i[n] pri[m]a una do[n]na bella/aparer... , 1/4v explicit: finita e q[ue]sta historia aluostro honore Finita la Biancha & la Bruna ). 4 leaves. 32 lines, double column. Type: 3:83R. One lombard initial. Title woodcut (61x93mm) of the two heroines on horseback, brandishing swords, within decorative border. (Two small wormholes, one affecting a few letters, outer bifolium neatly reinforced at hinge.) Modern patterned-paper boards, leather title label on front cover. Provenance : Giuseppe Martini (bought in Paris, 16 March 1934; inscription). APPARENTLY UNIQUE COPY, AND PERHAPS THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS STORY. Unknown to all standard incunable bibliographies, it is recorded by Sander alone, who cites this copy. Sander gives it to Bazalerius de Bazaleris at Bologna. The woodcut and border, while showing definite Florentine influences, are very similar to ones used by him to print an edition of Lucan in the vernacular. Bazalerius was active in Bologna and Reggio d'Emilia between 1480 and 1495; his brother Caligula printed with his material from 1492 to 1504. Two other editions of the poem are known, both printed at Rome about 1496-1500 (GW 4196, 4197). The anonymous poem is in ottava rima and tells the story of the battle between a fair and a dark heroine for one lover: finally, 'La Bruna' wins the hero, while 'La Biancha' laments her fate and contemplates becoming a nun. All ends happily, however, when 'un cavalier ch'era richo & possente' hears her and declares his love for her. (See Sander, "Tre incunabuli illustrati sconosciuti", Maso Finiguerra 2 (1937), 5-14, for a discussion of the illustrated Lucan printed by Bazaleriis). Sander 1411 (this copy); not in Hain, GW, IGI, etc.; no 16th-century edition of the poem is recorded in EDIT.