Lot 37B email save

ARIOSTO, Lodovico. Orlando Furioso . ornato di var

ARIOSTO, Lodovico (1474-1533). Orlando Furioso . ornato di varie figure con alcune stanze, et cinque canti d'un nuovo libro.

Venice: Gabriel Giolito Di Ferrari, 1551. 3 parts in one vol., 8vo (170 x 110 mm), separately titled but continuously foliated. Small roman type, double column. General title within architectural woodcut border incorporating Giolito device, larger woodcut device at end, 52 woodcut illustrations, woodcut portrait of Ariosto in part 3, woodcut initials. Contemporary gold-tooled Italian goatskin, covers paneled in gilt and blind with central gold-tooled lozenge (restored, lacking ties, endleaves renewed). Condition: lower margin of title restored, some staining & soiling. For nearly two decades following the first edition of 1542, the Gioliti issued almost yearly editions of Ariosto's epic poem. This is one of the rarer editions. Part 2 contains the supplementary five cantos and part 3 Dolce's commentary. BM/STC Italian, p. 39; Bongi, Annali di Giolito, p. 338; cf. Gamba 53; Melzi 85.