First edition containing the supplement by Francesco Serdonati.
Precious and superb copy from the Crozat libraries,
close friend of Louis xv, and Madame de Pompadour.
Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Case of the Famous Men of Mr. Giovan Boccaccio, Which Deal with Many Incidents of Various Princes, Starting from the Creation of the World Until His Time, with the Histories, and Cases in the Lives of Those.
And the speeches, reasons, and advice described by the author according to the occurrence of the subjects.
Translated from the Latin into the vernacular by Mr. Giuseppe Betussi.
With a new addition done by Mr. Francesco Serdonati.
With two tables, one of chapters, and the other very copious of the notable things.
In Florence, by Filippo Giunti, M. D. IIC. (1598). With license and Privilege.
3 volumes in-8 of: I/ (16) ff., 256 pp.; II/ (1) f., pp. 257 to 597; III/ (1) f., pp. 599 to 828, (26) ff.
Full olive morocco, triple gold fillet around the covers, arms in the center, smooth spines, red morocco title pieces, gold fillet on the edges, gilded edges on marbling. Binding of the 18th century.
150 x 94 mm.
Precious edition partly original containing for the first time the supplement by Francesco Serdonati dedicated by Philippe Junte to Cosmes ii of the Médici then a child.
This rare edition was reprinted in 1602.
It is the first edition printed in Florentine italic.
Biographical, fictional, historical, and didactic account at the same time, written in Latin between the years 1355 and 1360, and subsequently reshaped, the Mischances of Noble Ladies and Illustrious Gentlemen, from Adam up to the author’s time, enjoyed a wide distribution. They gave Boccaccio the image of a severe moralist, an image that was to fade with the success of the Decameron.
These illustrious men concern men of Antiquity including Agamemnon, Priam, Cicero, Cleopatra… Some portraits are followed by a reflection on the abuses of tyranny, passion, wealth…
Precious copy bearing the arms of the Marquise de Pompadour, carefully bound in three elegant volumes (1765, no. 3474).
Manuscript note in brown ink on the back of the title: From the library of D. Crosat, from the famous family of the collector magistrate close to the court of Louis XV.
The copy is well described in the catalogue of Madame de Pompadour no. 3474 where it was sold at the significant price of 8 pounds 19, with many volumes then being sold between 1 and 7 pounds.
Madame de Pompadour’s Italian books, in very small numbers, were admirably chosen.
