BEMBO (Pietro), Cardinal,

Prose nelle quali si ragiona della volgar lingua. (Venice, per Giovan Tacuino, September

      - Folio. XCIIII (misnumbered i.e. XCV). 17th century vellum over paste boards (repair to head and foot of spine, covers a little marked). 1525). First edition of Bembo's justly influential contribution to the debate of the questione della lingua in which he favours the usage of the Trecento as found in Petrarch and Boccaccio. The Prose has been described as not only one of the earliest histories of Italian literature but also a manifesto promoting an "ideal language", one which could represent the Renaissance ideal of equilibrium and classical beauty. Composed as a dialogue set in Venice from the 10th to the 12th of December the Prose is divided into three books. The first begins with a comparison of the origins of Italian language and literature to that of Provence concluding with a profile of what a literary language should be. The critical analysis of the second book is way beyond the usual scope of the humanistic tradition and works with problems of style, metrics and diction drawing from the major Trecento models. The third book draws from these models again to observe grammatical problems. Of the different views on the Italian language current at the beginning of the 16th century it was Bembo's which won the most favour and continued to prevail through the efforts of Lionardo Salviati and the Accademia della Crusca. Beautifully printed in a large roman type apparently under the eyes of Bembo who is said to have revised the text during printing. A few marginal wormholes at the beginning and end, some dampstaining towards the end. 19th century German library stamp on folio A2 and inside back cover. Gamba 136. BMSTC (Italian) p. 81. Not in Adams.