BANDELLO, Matteo

Canti XI de le lodi de la signora Lucretia Gonzaga di Gazuolos, e del vero amore, col tempio di pudicitia, et con altre cose [Agen], [Antoine Reboul], [1545] THE FAMOUS BANDELLO PRINTED IN AGEN : "BOOK OF GREAT RARITY" (BRUNET). ONE OF THE FIRST ITALIAN BOOKS PRINTED IN FRANCE. THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN AGEN. EXAMPLE OF TWO GREAT BIBLIOPHILES OF THE XVIIIth CENTURY : CARDINAL DE LOMÉNIE DE BRIENNE AND MICHAEL WOODHULL ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE EDITION In-4 (174 x 115mm). Title rubricated in pink in the 18th century COLLATION : A4 B-Z8 &8 ℑ8 R8, that is 204 leaves folioed 2-203, with the last leaf blank CONTENTS: A1r: title, A2r: dedication by Paolo Battista Fregoso (actually composed by Bandello) to Costanza Rangona Fregosa, B1r : The Stanze, R6v: colophon, R7r: errata 18th century french binding. Red morocco, gilt decoration, arms in the center of the boards, triple fillet in frame with rosette in the corners, very ornate spine, gilt edges PROVENANCE: most probably Cardinal Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne (1727-1794), an eminent bibliophile whose books constitute almost the entirety of an important London sale: Bibliotheca parisiana. A catalog of a collection of books, formed by a gentleman in France... To these are added, from another grand collection, selected articles of high value... London, Edwards, 26 [i.e. 28] March 1791, no. 274, sold for £5. 5s. to Michael Woodhull -- Michael Woodhull (1740-1816; arms and characteristic annotations on the first endpaper identifying the acquisition of the book: "Paris auction [read: Bibliotheca parisiana], £5. 5s. March 30 th 1791 [which corresponds to the third day of the above-mentioned sale]" followed by references to De Bure's Bibliothèque instructive and the Gaignat Catalogue, with the notation in Michael Woodhull's hand: "collated and complete" Some misprinted letters taken up in pen in M1v, small paper loss with some letters lost in O2v, the title leaf has been doubled in the 18th century Matteo Bandello (1480-1561) was an Italian courtier and a Dominican priest, who entered the service of the Sforzas, then the Gonzagas and finally that of Cesare Fregoso (1500-1541). The latter passed from the King of France in 1536 and brought Bandello to his new country. After the assassination of Fregoso, France protected his widow in Agen where Henry II made Bandello bishop in 1550. In his poems, composed in 1537-1538 in Castel Goffredo, Bandello praised his pupil Lucrezia Gonzaga (1522-1576), daughter of Pirro Gonzaga (who died in 1529), and Camilla Bentivoglio (who died the same year). This is Bandello's second published work, after his translation of Boccaccio's Decameron. "This composite poem, in three books and in octaves, marked by Dante's Commedia, Boccaccio's Amorosa visione, Petrarch's Trionfi, but also Politian's Stanze per la Giostra and Bembo's Asolani, traces the itinerary of a soul towards perfection and love (....) Bandello published his poem during his stay in Agen, with a dedication to Costanza Fregoso by Paolo Battista Fregoso, in fact probably written by Bandello himself. The collection is completed by the Tre Parche (...) composed at the end of 1530 or beginning of 1531, for the birth of Giano Fregoso, the eldest son of Costanza Rangoni and Cesare Fregoso". (Barbier-Mueller Foundation). Bandello is most famous for his Novelle which are the origin of two plays by Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. BIBLIOGRAPHY : USTC 130011 which cites only one copy, that of the Houghton Library at Harvard -- Brunet, I, col. 636 : "livre d'une grande rareté" -- L. Desgraves, Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIe siècle, 1968, t. II, Agen, p. 8, n° 5 (cites 5 copies) -- Graesse I, 285 : "excessively rare". WEBOGRAPHY : for the Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller copy bound in the 19th century : https://www.fondation-italienne-barbier-mueller.org/BANDELLO-Matteo-Canti-XI-Le-III-Parche-1545 -- Edit 16 cites 13 copies, 11 of which are in Italy, to which Barbier-Mueller and the British Library are added : https://edit16.iccu.sbn.it/resultset-titoli/-/titoli/detail/4082