Giovanni Boccaccio

Il Decamerone (Firenze per li heredi di Philippo di Giunta)

      Venice: Firenze per li heredi di Philippo di Giunta, 1527/1729, 1527. Good. No dust jacket as issued. Interior remains tight, clean and complete. Pages with minor toning remain much better than average. Vellum exterior with some wear and scuffing remains better than average. The corners are a bit bumped. Title and date label at backstrip remains with some wear and chipping. Some minor wear to the head and toe of spine. Everything being said volume remains much better than average. 284 numbered pages, facing pages not paginated. Good +. Not common. 9.50 by 7.00 inches. Edited by Stefano Orlandini, and printed at the cost of Salvatore Ferrari, it usually passes under the name of Consul Smith, who was partly responsible for its production. This is the famous facsimile printed in Venice in 1729 which differs from the 1527 original only in the correct numbering of leaves 42, 101, and 108, & the letter "a" is round rather than pointed; the "9" is a new sharp letter; and the foliation has been corrected. Grasse, Vol. I, p. 449 states that 300 copies of this edition were printed. (Updike. Printing Types. p. 160. ) Gamba, 172; Brunet I, 999; Parenti, Luoghi falsi, 87. Recent auction records include; "Christie" 2005, sale number 2470-78 & "Bloomsbury Auctions" 2008, sale number 654-106. Former Allen T. Hazen collection.