GUARINI (Giovanni Battista).

Il Pastor fido. Tragicomedia pastorale. Ronciglione, Pompilio Totti, 1632. Small in-12, olive morocco, framed with a roulette, large decoration of compartments arranged around a central medallion and two quatrefoils, the whole entirely gilt with small irons, ermines speckling repeated at the cardinal points, spine decorated in the same way, inner roulette, gilt edges chiselled and painted with floral motifs (Binding of the time). VERY RARE PRINTING FROM RONCIGLIONE, a small episcopal town in the states of the Church, situated near Viterbo, where printing was introduced according to Deschamps at the beginning of the 17th century. The edition is decorated with 6 copper engravings. This pastoral by the poet Guarini (1538-1612) was first published in 1590. CHARMING BINDING, STRICTLY CONTEMPORARY OF THE WORK, VERY FINELY GILDED BY ONE OF THE MASTERS OF THE BINDING OF THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Very close in style and material to the productions of Le Gascon, this binding was most certainly executed by the workshop listed by Esmerian as Un imitateur de Le Gascon who practiced around 1626. The scroll iron reproduced in Esmerian (Part 2, Appendix A, IX, first iron) can be found numerous times on the boards. THE QUALITY OF THE GILDING BRINGS THIS BINDING CLOSER TO THE BEST PRODUCTIONS OF THE GREAT WORKSHOPS OF THE TIME. The painted and chiselled edges, in vogue in Paris around 1630, of which several examples adorn volumes bound by the master gilder (cf. Esmerian, II, 1972, n°14 and 17), are noteworthy. Small crack to a jaw for a few centimetres.