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Avalon Gifts & Antiques

Giovambattista Gelli - La Circe - Italy - 1550

Giovambattista Gelli - La Circe - Italy - 1550

Regular price €780,00 EUR
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La Circe di Giovambattista Gelli accademico fiorentino, 1550. In Firenze : [Lorenzo Torrentino!, 1550 (Stampato in Fiorenza : appresso Lorenzo Torrentino impressor ducale, a di XXII de maggio 1550). 224 pages; 17.5 x 11.5 cm. A beautiful cinquecentina, well preserved: only marginal redness and slight signs of old water stains.
Hard parchment binding with title tag applied on the spine. Woodcut frontispiece with titles in the middle and Medici coat of arms, motto: Inclita proles. Behind the frontispiece is a portrait of the author, followed by the dedication to Duke Cosimo dated 1 March 1548.
Very rare edition (only four copies reported by S. b. N.), the second edition, that follows the first one by a few months: "Questa rara edizione, vieppiù corretta della prima (1549), e ritoccata qua e là con pregevoli cangiamenti di lezione, volevasi per ogni verso citata dalla Crusca" (Moreni, Annali tipografia Torrentino, pp. 96-97). The author Giambattista Gelli (1498-1563), Florentine, was a member of the Florentine Academy and author of numerous works, but never wanted to give up his profession of shoemaking.
The content, fun and easy to read, is divided into ten dialogues between Circe, Odysseus and his companions that the witch had turned into beasts They refuse to remain animals, with the exception of one, the elephant, who was a philosopher during his human life and wants to continue his search for the truth.
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