ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Divina Comedia Di Dante, di nuouo alla sua vera lettione ridotta con lo aiuto di molti antichissimi esemplari. Con argomenti, et allegorie per ciascun canto, e apostille nel margine. Et indice copiosissimo ...

12mo (129 x 75 mm), early 19th cent. brown half calf, with gilt title and fillets on spine, boards covered with marbled paper, sprinkled edges, a clean, good copy, with the bookplate of Leo S. Olschki (light warterstain at gutter of last leaves). Giolito's woodcut device on title-page and (larger) on last leaf, pp. (36), 598, (2, with colophon and device).

One of the rarest and most elegant 16th century editions of the Commedia, here appears for the first time the term of “Divina”. Although Dante had already beencalled ‘Divino' for some time, the definitive title of the poem is due to Dolce (1508 - 1568), who composed the notes of this edition, never reprinted by Giolito. It is decorated with a large number of woodcut headings and initials, and typographical decorations, with a half-page woodcut portrait of Dante and twelve woodcuts at 2/3 of page; the text is in italics and the comment is printed in the margins in small type; each ‘Canto' is preceded by an allegory and by the subject. Two issues of this edition are known, with significant variations in the typographic ornaments and in the layout of the text.

Mambelli 39; Olschki cat. “Letteratura dantesca” (Cat. LXXV, 1911), n.50; Bongi I, 475-476; De Batines, I, p. 90-91; Brunet, II,504: “Edition bien imprimee et faite avec soin”; Adams D-101.