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4to (210 x 145 mm) of 120 pp. Brown calf, boards decorated with rich interlacing decoration painted in wax (red, green, white and black), flat spine gilt with fine floral decoration, edges painted with alternating bands in red and black (19th century pastiche binding).
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Brunet, II, 161 ; BM, French, 194 ; Vaganay, 1548, n° 3 ; Gamba, 1325 ; BL, 191 ; Ascarelli-Menato, p. 375-376.
Second edition published by Valgrisi, dedicated by Apollonio Campano, probably a pseudonym of Giovanni Antonio Clario, to the princess of Salerno. In his introductory epistle, Campano mentions the protection the princess gave to Bernardo Tasso and Vincenzo Martelli.
The edition contains 212 sonnets and a canzone; it is expanded by 32 sonnets and a capitolo: five sonnets are inserted between the pieces given in the 1546 edition (on pages 27, 60, 74, 84, 87), and 27 follow them, as well as the primo capitolo del trionfo di Christo; this had been published in the 1540 edition of the Rime, under the title Trionfo della Croce. Among the pieces new since 1546, five sonnets had already appeared in the 1540 edition of the Rime, and three in those of 1538 and 1539, with variants.
Of particular note are sonnet 209, caudato, in which Vittoria evokes the visit of a heavenly messenger, the figure of her late husband, and piece 210, a terzine vision of clear Dantesque inspiration, depicting an allegorical procession on the seventh anniversary of her husband’s death, and evoking the conversation in heaven between him and the poetess.
The Rime of 1538 by Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), originally published without her permission by a small press in Parma, was the first of many editions of her poetry published during her lifetime. Born into one of the most powerful families in Rome and linked to many of the great political, religious and artistic figures of the time, Vittoria Colonna was in a unique position to transform the landscape of women’s writing.
A major collection of women’s poetry The first woman to have her own poems published in a single-authored volume, she paved the way for hundreds of other women of her time to publish their own works. Comprising over one hundred and forty sonnets and two canzoni, the Rime express Colonna’s anguish at the loss of her husband and her struggle to preserve his memory and secure her own future.
A fine, well-preserved copy, with a small tear in the title margin that has been restored.
Provenance: Barbet (signature on endpaper) – Paul Eudel (bookplate).
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