TUCCARO Arcangelo La Presa e il giuditio d’amore, in rima. Diviso in quarto [sic] libri composto.

Balsamo, Le livre Italien à Paris au XVI siècle, p. 149-151, n. 59.

First edition, published at the author’s expenses in his house in the Latin Quarter in Paris, close to the Boulevard Saint Germain, as indicated on the title page :”al Foborgo di Sangermano, alla strada di Tornone al logiamento de l’Autore”. Little is know about the author’s life, born in 1535 in the province of Aquila he is believed to have died in either 1602 or 1616. A professional acrobate he accompanied the Emperor Maximillian II daughter Elisabeth on her travel to France where she was to meet her future husband Charles IX. Other than this work of poetry Tuccaro was the author of a second book, entirely devoted to acrobatics, the “Trois dialogues de l’exercice de sauter et voltiger en l’air” (Paris 1599).

La Presa e il giuditio d’amore is a long mythological poem, written in 8 000 verses. It is dedicated to Anne de Bueil, Duchess of Bellegarde (? – 1631) and cousin of the poet Racan. In 1596 she had married Roger de Saint-Lary, Duke of Bellegarde, Governor of Burgundy.

“Il s’agit en effet d’une impression privée, réalisée aux dépens de l’auteur et à son adresse, rue de Tournon, à Paris. La rue de Tournon, dans le Faubourg Saint-Germain correspond au quartier de résidence des principaux Italiens de la cour, autour des familles Delbene, et Gondi. Lucrezia Cavalcanti, épouse d’Albozzo Delbene fit édifier en 1566 un hôtel (aujourd’hui, no. 12 et 14), Jacobo Corbinelli résida au n. 16; Concino Concini s’installa au n. 10. Il ne subsiste rien de ces demeures” (Balsamo).

The Catalogue Collectif de France locates only four institutional copies in France (BnF, Mazarine, Arsenal, Toulouse BM). Fine copy.