TASSO, Torquato. La Gerusalemme liberata.

Quarto (310 x 230 mm.), two volumes: [20], 331, [1] pages; [4], 337, [3] pages. In both volumes instead of first blank page there is a printed page declaring that “quest'edizione appartiene alla biblioteca particolare di S.A.I. Eugenio Napoleone di Francia vice-re d'Italia”. A very fine untrimmed copy bound in half red morocco, covers with gilt supralibros of Eugene Napoleon of France and his wife Augusta of Bayern, flat spines with gilt decoration green morocco lettering pieces.

A very fine copy with an important provenance of Tasso's masterpiece. The Bodoni edition of La Gerusalemme liberata, is dedicated to the King of Spain Carlos IV de Borbon, who had gratified Bodoni with an annual pension and the title of Tipografo di Sua Maestà, and edited by Pier Antonio Serassi (1721 – 1791) who revised the text upon the editions printed in 1581 and 1584, and on some autograph notes by Tasso in his personal collection. “Sometime in the early 1790s, Bodoni conceived the idea of printing by subscription uniform editions of the four Italian poets Tasso, Dante, Petrarch and Ariosto. He detailed his plans in a prospectus circulated in 1793 (printed in English and Italian): 'Two Editions of each [author's work] will come out at the same time… Of the First in grand Folio, on a superfine, chosen paper and polish'd, there will be only fifty copies struck off… Of the same Edition in common Folio, on fine royal paper and polish'd, one hundred & fifty Copies will be printed… Of the second Edition in grand Quarto, on superfine chosen paper and polish'd, there will be 100 Copies… And of this Edition in common Quarto, on fine royal paper, polish'd, there will be two hundred Copies… And each Copy, if the subscriber chuses [sic] shall have a page of frontis¬piece with his name, surname and additions, which will be a lasting proof of the original propriety of the Book'. The first text to be printed was the Gerusalemme liberata. On 22 July 1794, Bodoni informed a correspondent that the work was well-underway (ho quattro torchi occupati attualmente nella stampa della Gerusalemme liberata) and that it would appear in September in cinque diverse forme, tutte eleganti e nitidissime. In fact, four (not five) editions were produced, and the quantities printed were not as specified in the 1793 prospectus. The earliest bibliographers of the Bodoni press, Francesco Fusi and Giuseppe De Lama, writing in 1814 and 1816 respectively, maintain that the four editions were printed in this order:
(1) in two volumes, with three cantos printed on each page, foglio grande (page height 470 mm, or smaller), on laid paper with PB watermark (carta reale fina, detta di Napoli), 130 copies printed (100 copies reserved for subscribers or so-called ‘Associati', and 30 for sale to others);
(2) in three volumes, with two cantos printed per page, foglio mezzano (page height 450 mm, or smaller), on wove paper (velina), 100 copies printed;
(3) in two volumes, foglio piccolo (page height circa 390 mm), on wove paper (di Londra);
(4) in two volumes, quarto (page height circa 300 mm), on laid paper (reale fina detta di Napoli).
Bodoni's ambitious project to print luxurious editions of the Italian poets was ultimately a commercial disappointment: the next work to appear in the series, Dante's Divina comedia, was published in 1795–1796, also in four editions (Brooks nos. 588, 653–654; Giani p. 53); Petrarch's Rime, published in 1799, appeared however in two editions only (Brooks nos. 733–734; Giani p. 61); and Ariosto never proceeded to press.” (Robin Halwas)

Brooks 565.