BEOLCO, Angelo, nicknamed il Ruzzante. Piouano comedia, ouero nouella del Tasco, [Venice, Girolamo Brescia for Giorgio Greco at Vicenza], 1584
12mo. 59ff. (of 60, lacks the final blank). Woodcut device on title-page, a few woodcut headpieces and initials, in nineteenth century dark roan, a few small scuff-marks.
Part 3 of Beolco's collected works, but also probably issued separately as can be seen by both the British Library's copies being imperfect. The Paduan Ruzzante (1502-1542), one of the two comic geniuses of his age, took the local peasant farmers as his inspiration and at the height of his powers was followed by a large throng wherever he went. His life was spent in extreme poverty causing Speroni, one of his many admirers, to remark wryly that whereas his understanding of comedy was unsurpassed, he could not perceive his own tragedy. It is possible that his real name was Ruzzante, also a character in his comedies, and that Beolco was a local corruption of Bifolco, a ploughman.Censimento CNC 34674; Clubb 147f; this edition not in Adams
£150
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