Italian Plays of the Renaissance

SHORT LIST OF ITALIAN PLAYS OF THE RENAISSANCE
IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY EDITIONS WITH THE ADDITION OF A
SEVENTEENTH AND AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IMPRINT
FEBRUARY 2015
I am pleased to present a fully illustrated short list of Italian plays of the Renaissance, some in
first editions, and all but one printed in the sixteenth century. One of the items may well be the
only copy extant, as the whereabouts of the only recorded copy has remained unknown since
the 1870s.
Happy hunting.
Institutions can be billed to accommodate their requirements.
Sam Gatteño
Sam Gatteño Books
542 Lakeland
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
Website: http://www.samgattenobooks.com/
Email: [email protected]
(313) 885-2254 (office)
(313) 587-4582 (mobile)
(313) 885-2254 (fax)
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MOST LIKELY UNIQUE
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1. Brigliano, Giovanni Battista. Gli Penosi Affetti; Egloga Pastorale. In Napoli: Per Egidio
Longo, 1628. Duodecimo. 103pp. A12 [-A1 & -A10], B12-D12, E4. Lacks two leaves. Later
quarter sheep over marbled boards, repaired. Title label. In the bio-bibliography compiled by
Pietro Martorana, entitled, "Notizie Biographiche e Bibliographiche degli Scrittori del Dialetto
Napolitano," Napoli, Presso Chiurazzi Editore, 1874, the author notes the work briefly on page
42, but enlarges upon it in the Appendix, page 427, where he says, " Brigliano Gio. Battista. Un
semplice ricordo da taccuino, ci fece scrivere poche parole alla pag 42 citando nudamente
Brigliano detto il masturzo, ma nel corso di questo lavoro avendo acquistato il libro citato,
diremo, Gli penosi affetti egloga pastorale in Napolitana e Toscana lingua di Gio. Battista
Brigliano Dottor di Legge Napolitano. Detto il Masturzo. In Napoli, per Egidio Longo, 1628. Con
licenza de’Superiori. Esso è in 12 di pag 103, ed è dedicato dall’autore al Sig. Camillo Masini in
data da Napoli 20 Luglio 1628." In 1875, Camillo Minieri Riccio, in his “Notizie biographiche e
bibliographiche degli scrittori napoletani fioriti nel secolo XVII I cognomi dei quali cominciano
con la lettera B,” Napoli: Tipografia di Raffaele Rinaldi e Giuseppe Sellitto, 1877, also makes a
brief reference to this work. Other than these two entries, no reference to this work can be
found in any of the standard bibliographies that I have consulted. The whereabouts of
Martorana’s copy is unknown (unless, of course, this happens to be the one).
$2,800
3
2. Cavalcanti, Bartolomeo. Givditio sopra la tragedia di Canace et Macareo con molte
utili considerationi circa l'arte tragica, et di altri poemi con la tragedia appresso. (second
part) Canace. Tragedia di Messer Sperone Speroni Nobile Padvano. In Lucca: per
Vincentio Busdrago, 4 May 1550. Octavo. 95ff. Nineteenth-century marbled boards over
sheep spine.
$2,200
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FIVE FIRST EDITIONS, AND A SECOND, BOUND TOGETHER
3A. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. La Dote. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et
fratelli, 1556. Duodecimo. 47ff. A12-D12 (D12 blank, wanting). With several historiated capitals.
Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five other plays of Cecchi:
Gl'incantesimi, La Moglie, I Dissimili, L'Assivolo, and La Stiava. Cecchi’s works, a Florentine
playwright who was one of the most prominent figures of sixteenth-century Italian comedy, are
noted today for their portrayals of contemporary Italian speech and mannerisms.
$9,900
5
3B. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. L'Assivolo. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et
fratelli, 1550. Duodecimo. 45, [i]ff. A12-D12 (D11-12, both blank, wanting). First edition. With
several historiated capitals. Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five other
plays of Cecchi: Gl'incantesimi, La Dote, La Moglie, I Dissimili, and La Stiava.
See 3A
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3C. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. La Stiava. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et
fratelli, 1550. Duodecimo. 36ff. A12-C12. First edition. With several historiated capitals.
Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five other plays of Cecchi:
Gl'incantesimi, La Dote, La Moglie, I Dissimili, and L'Assivolo.
See 3A
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3D. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. La Moglie. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et
fratelli, 1550. Duodecimo. 43, [i]ff. A12-C12, D8. First edition. With several historiated capitals.
Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five other plays of Cecchi:
Gl'incantesimi, La Dote, I Dissimili, L'Assivolo, and La Stiava.
See 3A
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3E. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. Gl'incantesimi. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’
Ferrari,et fratelli, 1550. Duodecimo. 42ff. A12-C12, D6. First edition. With several historiated
capitals. Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five other plays of Cecchi:
La Dote, La Moglie, I Dissimili, L'Assivolo, and La Stiava.
See 3A
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3F. Cecchi, Giovanni Maria. I Dissimili. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et
fratelli, 1550. Duodecimo. 45, [i]ff. A12-D12 (D11 blank; D12 also blank, wanting). First edition.
With several historiated capitals. Contemporary vellum. Index Aurel. 134.844. Bound with five
other plays of Cecchi: Gl'incantesimi, La Dote, La Moglie, L'Assivolo, and La Stiava.
See 3A
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4. Giraldi Cinthio, Giovanni Battista. Le Tragedie di M. Gio. Battista Giraldi Cinthio,
Nobile Ferrarese: cioe Orbecche, Altile, Didone, Antivalomeni, Cleopatra, Arrenopia,
Evphimia, Epitia, Selene. In Venetia: Appresso Giulio Cesare Cagnacini, 1583. Octavo. [xvi],
135, [i], 143, 157, [iii], 118, [ii], 127, [i], 142, [ii], 135, [i], 118, [ii], 149, [iii]pp. First edition. Italic
letter, Cagnacini’s woodcut device on recto and woodcut portrait of author within ornate frame
on verso of all title-pages, woodcut initials and ornaments. Contemporary vellum. With
Cinthio's portrait on the verso of each title-page, including the general title-page. BM STC
Italian Books, p. 305; Gamba 1435 - 'e assai rare questa Raccolta;' Brunet II, 1607; Adams
G715 (UL copy, parts 1-4 only). Nine works in one; general title-page and separate title-pages
and prefaces to each play. First edition of the complete collected dramatic works of Giraldi
Cinthio (1506-1573), novelist and poet from Ferrara, sometime professor of literature at the
university there and from 1542-1560 private secretary to Duke Ercole II (for whom the plays
were written and performed) and Alfonso II d’Este. He occupied the chair of rhetoric at Pavia
from 1568 until shortly before his death. The principal works of Cinthio were these nine
tragedies and the Hecatommithi, a large collection of tales in the style of Boccaccio and
Bandello. He himself adapted several of their plots as the basis for his plays. Cinthio was the
single most important influence in sixteenth century Italian tragedy and his Orbecche is the first
known vernacular tragedy to have been produced on a modern European stage. Its influence
was felt far outside Italy, Luigi Giovio, a generation later, speaks of it as the model of all
subsequent tragedies. Shakespeare borrowed freely from Cinthio for ‘Othello’ and ‘Measure for
Measure’, and Cinthio’s ‘Cleopatra’ telling of her doomed love for Marc Anthony may have been
further inspiration to him. Like Shakespeare, Cinthio liked exotic locations; his ‘Arrenopia’ takes
place between Scotland and Ireland and ‘Gli Antivalomeni’ is set in London. These five act
dramas are among the first to contain typical elements of modern European theatre, using
psychological violence and horror in spectacular function with the dramatic action structured in
real time. The series is rarely found complete as they were also sold separately.
$2,700
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5. Grazzini, Antonfrancesco (detto Il Lasca). La Pinzochera comedia. In Venetia:
Appresso Bernardo Giunti, e Fratelli, 1582. Octavo, 48ff. Modern boards. Title-page mounted;
lower part of title-page in facsimile.
$800
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6. Grazzini, Antonfrancesco (detto Il Lasca). La Gelosia comedia. In Venetia: Appresso
Bernardo Giunti, e Fratelli, 1582. Octavo, 66ff. Nineteenth-century half sheep over marbled
boards. With an armorial bookplate - with motto: Constantia et Labore.
$1,500
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7. Grazzini, Antonfrancesco, compiler. Tutti I Trionfi Carri, Mascherate o Canti
Carnascialeschi andati per Firenze dal tempo del Magnifico Lorenzo de' Medici fino all'
Anno 1559. In questa seconda Edizione corretti, con diversi MSS. collazionati, delle loro
varie lezioni arricchiti notabilmente accresciuti, E co' Ritratti di Ciascun Poeta Adornati.
Cosmopoli [Lucca]: n.p. [Pel Benedini], 1750. Octavo. Two volumes. I: lx, 256pp.; II: 257- 594,
[2]pp. I: []1, a8-c8, d6, A8-Q8; II: R8-Z8, Aa8-Oo8, Pp2. Engraved allegorical title-pages to
both volumes. Second edition. This long-delayed second edition was edited by Rinaldo Maria
Bracci, under the pseudonym of Neri del Boccia. According to Brunet, there were two issues;
this one belongs to the first issue. Contemporary vellum. With 43 plates; 36 in the first volume
and 7 in the second. Brunet, V, 988-989; Gamba 268; Graesse, VI: II, p. 217; Ceresoli, p.129.
The compiler, Antonio Grazzini, better known as "Il Lasca, Academico Fiorentino," was a
quarrelsome scholar who is regarded as one of the masters of Italian prose. This long-delayed
second edition was edited by Rinaldo Maria Bracci, under the pseudonym of Neri del Boccia.
Lorenzo di Medici was fond of the sorts of public spectacles during which these songs were
performed and wrote numerous pieces himself--including the great & sprightly "Quant' bella
giovinezza" that opens this collection. And even Machiavelli composed a "Canto de' Diavoli."
This form of popular verse died along with the festivities that had given birth to it.
$1,000
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