La Comedia del divino Dante Alighieri da Firenze con la esposizione di Giuseppe Landino Passerini da Cortona. de Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 - 1911

In Firenze. Apresso L. S. Olschki, 1911. Hard Cover. 3 p.l., [v]-xl, [1], 524 pages, 1 l.; 43.5 cm. Reproduces 101 facsimiles of woodcuts in the Venice, 1491 edition. A magnificent effort of book production to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Divine Comedy. Gabriele d'Annunzio was to have contributed a life of Dante. He never completed it, so his 'Vita' was replaced by an earlier, already published essay on Dante. Everything else is first-rate. The handmade paper was commissioned for this edition, which was printed in 300 copies. (this is number 41). The binding is leather over wooden boards with iron clasps, bosses, and a bust of Dante (in six copies, one of which is in the Pierpont Morgan Library, the clasps, bosses, etc. are of silver). In this copy the previous owner, a Dante scholar, began annotating on the title-page, the beautiful title-page. He made two notes, then came to his senses (or someone beat him senseless).We have had a clamshell box made for it by James DiMarcantonio, Hope Bindery & Box Company. The condition is generally excellent; there is some scuffing, a few of the nails for the ironwork have come out. We had the leather of the clasps replaced. One of the great editions of Dante. OB1000.