Dante Alighieri

Opere del divino poeta danthe con suoi comenti: recorrecti et con ogne diligentia novamente in littera cursiva impresse .

Venice, Bernardino Stagnino, 1520.

4° (200 x 137 mm). Collation: AA12, a-z8, &8, aa-zz8, &&8, cum8, rum8, A-E8. [12], 441 [i.e. 440]. Italic and roman type. Title-page printed in red within woodcut border (four blocks), the lower panel depicting Adam and Eve with God in the Garden of Eve. At the centre woodcut printer's device showing St Bernardine of Siena holding the sacred monogram of Jesus and, printed in red 'In Bibliotheca S. Bernardini'. Adifferent device on fol. E8r. Full-page woodcut on fol. a1v, showing Dante, Virgil and the three wild beasts. The beginning of the Inferno (fol. a2r) framed within the same border (with a variant in the lower panel) employed for the title-page. Ninety-nine woodcut vignettes in text, variously signed C, CI, and CC. Numerous woodcut decorated initials, on eight lines that on fol. a2r. Bound by Rivière in brown morocco over pasteboards. Covers framed within double fillet border, small gilt tools at the corners; at the centre of the upper cover 'danthe' lettered in gilt in medallion, the imprint ‘venetia mcccccxx' on the lower cover. Gilt-tooled spine with five raised bands, author's name and imprint in gilt lettering. Pasteboards and flyleaves in vellum. Board edges gilt-tooled, inside dentelles. Gilt edges. A very fine copy, in the title-page a light spot, and minor repair to the outer margin, without any loss.

Provenance: Livio Ambrogio collection.



First reprint of the Commedia published by Bernardino Stagnino in 1512. It differs only in the title-page and in the woodcut used in the first page of the Inferno.