La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri. Illustrata di Note da Luigi Portirelli P. di Um. Lett. nel Liceo di Brera...

5418[N]

Three volumes, large 8° (220 x 148 mm). lxvii, [1], 336, [2]; li, [1], 441, [3]; 453, [1] pages. In the first volume frontispiece with medallion portrait of Dante, drawn and engraved by Giuseppe Benaglia. Three engraved plates, one for each volume, showing the maps of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Modern blue cardboard, on the spine title in gilt lettering. Preserved inside the original blue wrappers. A very fine copy, uncut. Minor and occasional foxing.

Provenance:'Castiglioni' (nineteenth-century ownership inscriptions on the upper wrapper of each volume, repeated on the title-page of the second volume).

The first edition of the Commedia published in Italy in the nineteenth century, in the renowned book series Edizioni delle opere classiche italiane.The text was edited by Luigi Portirelli (1774-1838), who based his edition on the codex of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan (ms. A 40 inf.). The commentary on the Inferno and Purgatorio follows that by Baldassarre Lombardi (1718-1802), published in 1791, while the Paradiso is supplemented with the notes by Giulio Ferrari. The preliminary leaves contain the Vita di Dante written by Girolamo Tiraboschi (1731-1794) for his Storia della Letteratura Italiana.With a fine engraved Dante's portrait, executed by the Milanese artist Giuseppe Benaglia (1796-1830).