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Bembo, Pietro PROSE NELLE QUALI SI RAGIONA DELLA VOLGAR LINGUE Venice Giovanni Tacuino 1525

First Edition. Folio, in fine 17th century vellum, sewn on three visible supports and with evidence of three paper ties, with some very minor restoration to the head and tail of the spine. Foliated I - XCIIII and collating A - Q5 (lacking the final blank leaf Q6. A very attractive copy with some early (probable 17th c.) annotations in the margins, a the first leaf slightly mellowed or soiled, unobtrusive dampstaining effecting the outer margins only and with some minor expected wear to the 17th century vellum.

ONE OF THE PARAMOUNT ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN LITERATURE AND AN IMPORTANT TREATISE ON THE TUSCAN VERNACULAR. Bembo's work is one o f the most influential demonstrations of literary excellence of the Italian vernacular. In it Bembo derides the excessive cultivation of Latin and instead extols the beauty and charm of the Tuscan dialect, exemplified in the trecento by Dante, Petrarch and Boccassio. He also establishes standard rules for spelling and syntax.
The work was frequently reprinted throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but this first edition was apparently seen through the press by Bembo himself. It is said that he revised much of the text during it printing. The printing itself is most handsome in a large Roman typeface.

$US7500

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