The Vision; or Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. Translated by the Rev. H. F. Cary, A.M. In three Volumes...

Three volumes, 16° (104 x 61mm ). xiv, [2], 220; [2], 212; [2], 216 pages. Contemporary uniform binding in hazel calf. Covers framed within gilt fillet. Smooth spine, gilt-tooled; imprint and volume numbering in gold on double lettering-piece. Edges speckled red. Preserved, together with the three-volume second issue of the edition in a grey cloth box, title and imprint on black morocco label 'Dante The Vision First & Second Issue 1814'. A very good copy, a few and light brownings and very small stains. In the first volume pencilled bibliographical note on the recto of the front flyleaf, 'The rare first issue with the original title. See The Book collector vol. 1, no. I'.

The first edition, in the first issue, of the first complete translation into English of the Commedia, published by Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) under the title The Vision, adopted – in Italian form La Visione - by two of the only three editions of the poem appeared during the seventeenth century (respectively in Vicenza in 1613, and in Venice in 1629), and never used again. As Cary states in his preface, "in one or two of those editions is to be found the title of 'The Vision, which I have adopted, as more conformable to the genius of our language than that of The Divine Comedy". The text is introduced by A Chronological View of the Age of Dante. The publishing costs were defrayed by Cary himself.