PETRARCH, Francesco

Trionfi

      1478 1478 PETRARCH, Francesco. [I Trionfi.]. (Colophon: Venice: Reynaldus of Nijmegen and Theodorus of Rendsburg, 1478). Small, thick folio, later full vellum rebacked, new endpapers. $12,000. First edition of the Trionfi to contain both the Lapini and the Philelphus commentaries-a touchstone for the literature and art of Renaissance Europe. Petrarch was crowned poet laureate of Rome in 1341 and is generally considered the poet who ushered in the Renaissance. "He perfected the sonnet form and left behind a body of work in the Tuscan dialect of Italy, the beauty and sensibilities of which justly secured him the reputation as being the first modern lyric poet" (King's College). First published in 1470, Trionfi is an allegorical cycle composed in terza rima, the metrical form devised by Dante for his comedy. The poem is cautionary in nature and takes as its metaphor a triumphal procession of six allegorical figures-Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity-each victorious over its predecessor. Central to Trionfi (as well as to his later Canzoniere) is Petrarch's unrequited love for a woman named Laura, whom he first saw on April 6, 1327 in the church of St. Claire in Avignon and who died of the plague in 1348. "The first two parts, Triumph of Love and the Triumph of Chastity, were probably written within the years 1340-1344, as a work complete in itself. But the death of Laura in 1348 led Petrarch to write the Triumph of Death which he followed soon after with the Triumph of Fame. The last two parts, the Triumph of Time and the Triumph of Eternity, were not written until the last few years of his life and Petrarch constantly reworked the earlier sections of the Trionfi so at the time of his death it was still in an unfinished state" (King's College). The final triumph of Eternity, however, remains supreme, as the symbol of peace, eternal life, and the everlasting union of the poet with his beloved Laura: "If he was blest who saw her here on earth, What then will it be to see her again in heaven!" Trionfi had a huge influence on the literature and art of Renaissance Europe. "Guardiani estimates that, in the 16th century alone, over 300,000 short lyrics, mostly sonnets, were written, and that most of them were in imitation of Petrarch. In England, Chaucer, Shakespeare and Donne all owe a debt to Petrarch as do Spenser, Surrey, and Wyatt" (King's College). Trionfi was also an inspiration to Shelley, whose Triumph of Life was written in terza rima. This early incunable edition of Trionfi is the first to contain both of the extensive commentaries by Bernardo Lapini da Siena and Franciscus Philelphus. In this edition, "the printers established a form followed in all later editions of separating the portions of [Petrarch's] text in rectangular spaces, the commentary filling the rest of the page" (Fiske Petrarch Collection). Rubricated throughout with initial letters and section marks. In this edition, "the printers established a form followed in all later editions of separating the portions of [Petrarch's] text in rectangular spaces, the commentary filling the rest of the page" (Fiske Petrarch Collection). Rubricated throughout with initial letters and section marks. Running titles supplied in contemporary hand, occasional glosses in manuscript. Bound without first blank leaf. Hain & Copinger 12767. Proctor 4429. Goff P381. Thacher 297. Interior near-fine and bright, with small worm-holes to first leaf, shallow dampstain to first two gatherings. A lovely copy, in excellent condition.