La Fiorita d’Italia; in Italian, decorated manuscript on parchment

BOOK DESCRIPTION: FIFTEENTH-CENTURY COPY OF GUIDO DA PISA'S HISTORY OF ROME, IN ITALIAN. In Italian, decorated manuscript on parchment, Italy, Tuscany, Florence(?), c. 1440-1460. Dimensions 260 x 182 mm., 83 folios, lacking nine leaves, horizontal catchwords, written in brown ink by two different scribes in Italian cursive mercantesca script in single column on 38 lines, penwork initials. BINDING: ORIGINAL dark brown calf over wooden boards blind-tooled with fillets, twisted rope and x-form motifs, fitted purple buckram case c. 1900. TEXT: Guido da Pisa is best-known for his commentary on Dante, and Dante is cited often in this work, a history of Rome composed within the format of a universal chronicle. This text is now remarkably rare; in fact this is the first copy to appear on the open market in over 140 years, and one of only a few copies on parchment. PROVENANCE: script and decoration suggest that the manuscript was written in Tuscany in the middle of the fifteenth century. The binding, decoration, the quality of the script and the choice of parchment support suggest it was made for a patron of some wealth and influence; several inscriptions from unidentified early modern owners; Gerali di Pontremoli (in Tuscany), inscription on front pastedown, records the acquisition of the book from his family on November 20, 1889. CONDITION: small stains, slight water damage outer margins ff. 65-68, clasps and catches missing, losses of leather especially at foot of boards and spine (the latter with modern conservation), worm holes, otherwise in very good condition. Full description and images available. (TM 1053)