Lettura prima [-settima] di Gio. Battista Gelli sopra lo Inferno di Dante. Letta nella Accademia Fiorentina.

Vol. 1: 8° (157 x 103mm). Collation: A-Q⁸. [128] leaves. Roman and italic type. On the title page woodcut printer's device. Woodcut decorated and animated initials. Contemporary vellum, traces of ties. Smooth spine with inked title. On the foot edge ‘LETVRA PRIMA', in an early hand. A very good copy, title-page slightly browned. A few soiling. A stamp on the verso of the rear flyleaf (faded). On the verso of the front flyleaf, ‘Alberto Pezzana Gamba pag 157. Edizione che da Gamba si raccomanda di tenerla cara essendo in alcuni luoghi variata da quella del 1554.', and ‘E' citata nella quinta impressione del Vocabolario della Crusca. Ab. Luigi Razzolini'.
Vol. 2: 8° (162 x 93 mm). Collation: A¹², B-O⁸. [8], 218, [4] pages (wanting the second of the last blank leaves). Roman and italic type. On the title page woodcut printer's device. Woodcut depicting the map of Hell on fol. F4r. Woodcut decorated and animated initials. Nineteenth-century vellum over pasteboard. Smooth spine, title and imprint in gold on lettering-piece. A good copy, a few wormholes in the lower blank margin of the first quires, without any loss. Some spots and finger-marks. On the recto of the front flyleaf the note ‘Edizione citata dalla Crusca. E' la seconda Lettura divisa in X Lezioni preced.^te da un'Orazione Di Giulio Bernardino Tomitano'.
Vol. 3: 8° (157 x 92 mm). Collation: A-N⁸. 202, [2] pages (wanting two of the three final blank). Roman and italic type. On the title page woodcut printer's device. Woodcut decorated and animate initials. Nineteenth-century vellum over pasteboards; title lettered in gilt on the spine. On the front pastedown traces of a paper label, now abrased. A very good copy, title-page lightly browned; some insignificant stains. On the recto of the second front flyleaf the note ‘Edizione citata dalla Crusca. E' la terza Lettura, che contiene IX Lezioni preced.^te da un'Oraz.^e Di Giulio Bernardino Tomitano'. On the title-page erased an earlier ownership inscription.
Vol. 4: 8° (150 x 90 mm). Collation: A-P⁸. 237, [2] pages. Roman and italic type. On the title-page woodcut printer's device. Woodcut decorated and animated initials. Eighteenth-century hazel calf over pasteboards; Spine with five small raised bands, richly gilt-tooled. Title in gilt lettering on the second compartment. Marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, red edges. On the front pastedown traces of an early paper label. A very good copy, title-page slightly browned and spotted. A few minor stains. On the verso of the second front flyleaf the note ‘Edizione citata dalla Crusca. Lettura quarta contenente X. Lezioni Di Giulio Bernardino Tomitano'.
Vol. 5 (three volume in one), 8° (150 x 91 mm). Collation: A-N⁸; A-H⁸, I⁴; A-I⁸. 111, [3]; [68]; [72]. Roman and italic type. On the title page woodcut printer's device. Eighteenth-century hazel calf; gitl title on the spine. Red edges. On the front flyleaf, nineteenth-century note. woodcut tailpiece at the end. Eighteenth-century hazel calf over pasteboards. Spine with five small raised bands, richly gilt-tooled; title in gilt lettering on the second compartment. Marbled pastedowns and flyleaves. Red edges. On the front pastedown traces of an early paper label. A very good copy, a few leaves uniformly browned, a few small stains and occasional foxing. On the verso of the second front flyleaf the note ‘In questo Volume si contengono le tre seguenti Lezioni del Gelli di ediz.i citate dalla Crusca. 1. Lettura V. Contiene X. lezioni, ed è dedicata dal Gelli a Hestor Visconti. E' la più rara fra le Letture del Gelli, e tale era riguardata sino da' tempi del Canonico Salvino Salvini. Fasti consolari p. 77. 2. Lettura sesta, divisa in X. Lezioni. 3. Lettura Settima divisa in XI. Lezioni. Sono tutti esemplari assai belli, ed edizioni rare difficili ad unirsi. Di Giulio Bernardino Tomitano. NB. Il Moreni Annali Torrentiniani dice la Lettur. V. oggimai irreperibile'.

Provenance: the abbot and bibliographer Luigi Razzolini (d. 1881); Livio Ambrogio collection.

Five-volume set assembled by the abbot and scholar Luigi Razzolini (d. 1881) –in his own hand the bibliographical notes added on the flyleaves of each volume –, including seven on the nine lectures on the Inferno given by Giovan Battista Gelli (1498-1563) to the Florentine Academy between 1541 and 1543.