1587 ORLANDO FURIOSO by Lodovico Ariosto antique MAGNIFICENTLY ILLUSTRATED

Lodovico Ariosto


Orlando furioso ... Tutto ricoretto, & di nuove Figure adornato.
Con le Annotationi, gli Avvertimenti, & le Dichiarationi di Ieronimo Ruscelli ...

Venice; 1587

Magnificently illustrated and extensively annotated edition of Ariosto's epic poem, 'Orlando Furioso'.

With woodcut title page, woodcut printer's mark (repeated) and 51 full-page chapter woodcuts, each with a four-sided border, as well as the same number of illustrated frames and initials.


Significant Renaissance epic and early bestseller of European literature, this edition with the five additional poems ('I Cinque Canti') that Ariosto wrote between 1518 and 1519 and which, accompanied by a detailed philological commentary on the work of Girolamo Ruscelli (1518-66), were first published in 1556 by Valgrisi in Venice.

All 51 cantos of the main work and the 5 additional ones begin with full-page woodcut scenes framed by lavishly illustrated four-page borders, which are rich in detail and finely engraved in perspective and proportion, and whose unsigned or monogrammed models can be attributed alternately to the painter Dosso Dossi (1489-1542), his brother Battista (1490-1548) or the cartographer Donato Bercelli, but are probably a collective effort from Valgrisi's workshop.

Incorrect pagination '90' instead of '60'


A few leaves are mounted with trimming on old laid paper (no loss of woodcut images),
some foxing, occasional minor stains and a few small wormholes.
19th century hardback binding with gilt decorated spine

 size about 7 3/4 by 10 1/2 inches

Text in Italian
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