Petrarca, Il Petrarca con nuove spositioni, Lyon, 1564, contemporary Italian panel-stamped binding, the De Marinis copy
Vente aux enchères clôturée
July 11, 03:42 PM GMT
Estimation
2,400 - 3,200 GBP
Description du lot
Description
PETRARCA, FRANCESCO. Il Petrarca con nuove spositioni nelle quali, oltre l'altre cose, si dimostra qual fusse il vero giorno et l'hora del suo innamoramento. Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1564
A FINE COPY IN A CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN PANEL-STAMP BINDING WITH EVIDENCE OF CONTEMPORARY CENSORSHIP; THE DE MARINIS COPY.
In this copy, Petrarch's "Babylonian sonnets" ("Fiamma dal Ciel", "L’avara Babilonia" and "Fontana di dolore") have been censored with ink, which has led to ink burns. Petrarch virulently denounced the Avignon papacy, which has in turn been read as an attack on the Roman papacy; across these sonnets, Babylon is “l’avara Babilonia” (greedy Babylon), “Babilonia falsa et ria” (false and wicked Babylon), "nido di tradimenti" (nest of treachery), "fontana di dolore" (fountain of sorrow), "scola d'errori" (school of errors) and "templo d'eresia'' (temple of heresy). These sonnets were added to the Roman Index printed by Antonio Blado in 1557 and, from the issuing of the 1559 Pauline Index onward, an effort was made to ensure the censorship of existing copies and future publications.
The second part of the work, "Tavola di tutte le rime de i sonetti e canzoni del Petrarca", signed a-t8, is not found here.
Sixth edition, first part only, 16mo (122 x 72 mm). Roman and italic type, 37 lines plus headline. collation: *8 **8 a-z8 A-R8 (final two leaves blank): 336 leaves. Woodcut portrait of Petrarch and Laura on verso of a8, a number of woodcut illustrations, woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, ink burns censoring 2 sonnets on n7-8. (Some very light even browning throughout, some dampstaining to head of first few quires, small ink stain to h8v affecting 1 letter.)
binding: Contemporary Italian panel-stamp binding (128 x 80 mm), brown morocco, gold tooled, border on vertical sides of covers with repeated leaf, narrow vertical panel stamp with interlaced leafy forms, upper cover with central oval containing initials "M.D.S." arranged vertically, lower cover with crowned rampant lion, spine with 4 bands, leafy rolls in compartments, stubs from 2 pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered. (With old repairs to spine ends and corners, lower joint cracking at head, lacking ties, upper endleaves removed and one renewed.)
provenance: M.D.S., initials on binding and crowned rampant lion on lower cover—washed inscription to title—"... di Bergamo", later inscription to dedication leaf, partially erased—Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969), exhibited Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence, 1922), no. 185, sale, Hoepli, Milan, 30 November 1925, lot 65 (illustrated)—Sotheby's, 28 February 1966, lot 97. acquisition: Purchased in 2001 from Sokol Books, London. references: Edit16 CNCE 30185 (for both parts); von Gültlingen X: Rouillé, 599; Klaus Ley, Die Drucke von Petrarcas Rime 1470-2000: synoptische Bibliographie der Editionen und Kommentare (Hildesheim 2002), no. 262a; for the censorship history, see Peter Stallybrass, “Petrarch and Babylon: Censoring and Uncensoring the Rime, 1559–1651”, in For the sake of learning: Essays in honor of Anthony Grafton (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp.581–601.