DANTE.

Comedia. S.l., 1529 [at colophon] : Venice, Jacob de Burgofranco for Lucantonio Giunta, 23 January 1529. In-folio, stiff vellum, title calligraphed in ink on the spine (Binding of the time). Essling, n°542. VERY GOOD VENITIAN EDITION OF DANTE, with comments by the Florentine humanist Christoforo Landino. The title, printed in red and black, bears the large red lily mark and is set in a frame with busts of Latin historians and Italian poets (Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Aretinus). On the reverse side is a beautiful full-page portrait of Dante, seen in profile. The rest of the illustration is copied from that of 1491 and includes numerous woodcuts in the text, including three large ones, one at the beginning of each hymn. The wood that opens the Inferno is placed in the same frame that was used for the title but with a variation in the decoration. Numerous annotations (calculations) on the plates. Restorations to the title, name of one of the portraits crossed out in ink. Marginal tear to folio o8, deleting the 6-line headline which indicates that Count Guido of Montefeltro is the adviser of Pope Boniface VIII. Angular paper loss on folio x7 with loss of letters in the headline. Some foxing, light wetness affecting the last 3 quires. Top of spine and upper hinge restored.