Dante Alighieri

[DIVINA COMMEDIA]. DANTE COL SITO, ET FORMA DELLOINFERNO EOL PURGATORIO EOL PARADISO

      Tuscolano: Alessandro Paganini, [circa 1506]. Rare Aldine counterfeit and the first Paganini edition preceeding the illustrated Aldine edition of 1515. One double-page plate and three full-page plates. 8vo, very finely bound in full calf in the contemporary style imitating the bindings placed on the Aldine editions of the same period. Spine with wide raised bands handsomely gilt-tooled,in compartments and on the bands, the upper cover with central gilt ornamental device and decorated in overall designs gilt in the Italian manner. [248] ff. On verso of first leaf: LOONFERNO EOL PURGATORIO EOL PARADISO DI DANTE ALAGHIERI; On verso of last leaf: P. ALEX. PAG. BENACENSES F. BENA. V.V. within a double rule woodcut border. A very beautiful copy in an excellent and exemplary state of preservation.. FIRST OF THE PRINTING AND OF THE EDITION. An extremely rare Aldine counterfeit of the famous 1502 Dante, but with typeletters somewhat larger and with illustrations. The woodcuts are different from those of the AldusO 1515 edition; with comparing minutely both edition, one can judiciously suppose that the set of blocks for the AldusO edition was made with cuts redesigned, much larger, and more elaborate that the primitive ones used by Paganini. ODanteOs theme, the greatest yet attempted in poetry, was to explain and justify the Christian cosmos through the allegory of a pilgrimage. To him comes Virgil, the symbol of philosophy, to guide him through the two lower realms of the next world, which are divided according to the classifications of the OEthicsO of Aristotle. Hell is seen as an inverted cone with its point where lies Lucifer fixed in ice at the centre of the world, and the pilgrimage from it a climb to the foot of and then up the Purgatorial Mountain. Along the way Dante passes Popes, Kings and Emperors, poets, warriors and citizens of Florence, expiating the sins of their life on earth. On the summit is the Earthly Paradise where Beatrice meets them and Virgil departs. Dante is now led through the various spheres of heaven, and the poem ends with a vision of the Deity. The audacity of his theme, the success of its treatment, the beauty and majesty of his verse, have ensured that his poem never lost its reputation. The picture of divine justice is entirely unclouded by DanteOs own political prejudices, and his language never falls short of what he describes.O PMM