Catalogue 1 DANTE ALIGHIERI “When you’re going through Hell, keep going.” Winston Churchill Book Hunter’s Holiday 3182 Campus Drive, No. 205 2010 San Mateo, California 94403 (415) 307-1046 www.bookhuntersholiday.com Terms of Sale If you have any questions about a book you wish to order, please contact us at chris@bookhuntersholiday. com. Please email or call ahead to reserve a book, as all books are subject to prior sale. Prices are quoted in U.S. Dollars and are net, plus sales taxes where applicable. Shipping and insurance are extra. All books are guaranteed as described and any item may be returned for any reason within seven days of receipt, through prior arrangement, and in original condition. Unless books are not as described, however, postage to be paid by buyer. We accept checks made out to Book Hunter’s Holiday, money orders, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Paypal ([email protected]). Payments from outside the United States should be made in US dollars by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, postal money order, or check drawn on a US bank. New customers are asked to prepay. Libraries, institutions, and established customers and dealers may be invoiced. Reciprocal trade courtesies extended. Search and want services are available, as well as collection development. Please inquire. Offers of books for sale are actively solicited, from single titles to entire col- lections. Chris Lowenstein Book Hunter’s Holiday 3182 Campus Drive #205 San Mateo, CA 94403 (415) 307-1046 [email protected] http://www.bookhuntersholiday.com Blog at: http://bookhuntersholiday.wordpress.com 1 ontrary to what some of my former even as that American classic, a Mickey Mouse high school English students used comic book. Additionally, several of the books Cto assume prior to reading his work, from this collection are featured in a short docu- Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is not mentary film (“Dante in History”) that will ap- some long-dead, inaccessible author whose an- pear in that ultimate expression of current popular cient work gathers dust on bookshelves and whose culture, the video game. Electronic Arts plans message is only for the privileged few who can de- to release its Dante’s Inferno video game some- cipher terze rime. The items featured in this cata- time in early 2010 and used several of the books logue, my first, were assembled to highlight Dante’s offered for sale in this catalogue as examples of work in permutations other than the traditional the way popular culture has understood Dante. high spots. Dante experts won’t find the revered Dante’s appeal also extends beyond popular cul- Aldine or Velutello editions or the well-known ture to other seemingly unlikely audiences. Some Cristoforo Landino commentary in this catalogue. editions of Dante were published specifically for Instead, this catalogue gathers together fresh, pre- children. Plays have been written about charac- viously overlooked examples of Dante’s work that ters from Dante. There is even a Hebrew adap- have appealed to both scholar and average reader tation of Dante’s decidedly Christian imagining over the centuries. The books in this catalogue will of the afterlife. John Flaxman, the pre-eminent enhance the shelves of the astute Dante collec- sculptor for Wedgwood Pottery, produced line tor or create a core collection for the novice. Like drawings of Dante’s famous work. Some of the Dante’s work itself, the collection offered here also editions offered here are inscribed with personal demonstrates that book collecting is not necessar- messages from their translators. ily limited to the scholarly and wealthy among us. All of these different editions, translations, and Dante has always been an author for the com- illustrations have helped Dante’s work to endure in mon man. Writing in the vernacular rather than the 700 years since it was initially published, and the traditional Latin, Dante ensured that his book help shake the dust off Dante’s image as a stately, could be read by any literate Italian. While the ancient author only accessible to scholars and only admiration of Dante’s work by his contemporaries affordable to those who can purchase incunabula. may be easy to understand in light of his use of the Recognizing that the assembly of a complete vernacular, his appeal to modern readers might collection of all of the editions of Dante in one seem puzzling. His writing is rife with Aristotelian bookseller’s first catalogue is a task that could philosophy, religious minutiae, and the political never be completed (Dante’s works have not been battles of 13th–century Italy -- hardly the mak- out of print in almost 700 years), the items in this ings of a popular bestseller. catalogue provide perspective on the popular re- However, Dante’s gift for describing in words the ception of Dante’s work. The catalogue is orga- violent images of Hell and the ethereal qualities of nized by date of publication so that the reader Heaven has long appealed to many readers’ sense of can see the change in the way Dante’s work has the visual. His work has been illustrated over and been presented, specifically from the 18th un- over by dozens of artists since 1481. Popular high- til the 21st centuries. Turn the pages and enjoy! spot editions of Dante’s work include amazing il- lustrations by great artists such as Botticelli, and Chris Lowenstein , Owner poets with artistic visions, such as William Blake. Book Hunter’s Holiday But some of the most interesting and acces- sible artistic interpretations of Dante’s works, all of which appear in this catalogue, include edi- tions of his books published as Victorian adver- tising trade cards for beef bouillon, as chromo- lithograph postcards, as cigar advertisements, and Cover illustration: Item 23, back cover illustration: Item 56. 1 1790 1804 1. [ALIGHIERI, DANTE]. Penrose, Thomas. An Early partial A SKETCH OF THE LIVES AND WRITINGS OF DANTE AND PETRARCH WITH SOME Translation ACCOUNT OF ITALIAN AND LATIN LITER- signed by the Author ATURE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. London: John Stockdale, 1790. 2. Wharton, Richard, Esq. M.P. FABLES: CON- 12mo. 4 1/2”x 7”. [4] 114 + [2] pp. publisher’s ads. SISTING OF SELECT PARTS FROM DANTE, Facsimile of Petrarch’s handwriting on p. 105. Recent BERNI, CHAUCER, AND ARIOSTO. IMITAT- quarter sheep over marbled boards, gilt spine with ED IN ENGLISH HEROIC VERSE. London: burgundy morocco label. A little very light foxing, a Printed by T. Bensley . . . for Payne and Mackinlay, couple of pencil marks. A very good, uncut copy. First 1804. edition. ESTC lists only six copies in North Ameri- 8vo. 5 3/4”x 9”. 199 pp. Inscribed by the author. can libraries. Thomas Penrose (1769-1851) was the With the bookplate of Peter Isaac. Gray paper-covered son of Thomas Penrose, the poet (1742-1779). The boards with parchment spine. Corners bumped, gray younger Penrose was admitted on the foundation of paper worn away at bottom corners. Else very good. Winchester College, became fellow of New Col- Though Henry Francis Cary was the first to trans- lege, Oxford, and vicar of Writtle-cum-Roxwell. (See late the entire Divine Comedy into English, several Oxford DNB.) $750.00 English authors prior to him translated various cantos of the work into their native tongue. According to ESTC, the first such partial translation of Dante’s 2 1804 poetry into English appeared in 1773. Wharton’s ... And by his Wife 1804 translation of cantos 3 (the description of the entrance to Hell), 32 and 33 (the story of Ugolino, 3. Wharton, Richard, Esq. M.P. FABLES: CON- a traitor at the lowest depth of Hell) into English SISTING OF SELECT PARTS FROM DANTE, Heroic Verse is one of several early appearances of BERNI, CHAUCER, AND ARIOSTO. IMITAT- Dante in English. The three cantos translated in this ED IN ENGLISH HEROIC VERSE. London: work are among the best known scenes in Inferno. Printed by T. Bensley . . . for Payne and Mackinlay, Fables renders select parts of Dante’s well-known terze 1804. rime in English Heroic verse, imitating the style of 8vo. 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”. 199 pp. Inscribed by the English poet, dramatist, and critic, John Dryden. This author’s wife, “Given to Mr. J.W. Phipps by Mrs. book, offering selections from several major literary Wharton, March 13, 1812.” In navy blue embossed works, is an interesting example of the “skimmed milk” leather with gilt decorative devices and gilt letters on that was served up to the eighteenth-century reader spine. A.e.g. Joints and corners heavily rubbed. Cor- as an example of Dante’s poetry. It is best appreciated ners lightly bumped. Else very good. A second copy when compared with the later, complete, and (argu- of item #2 and, as it is signed by the author’s wife, a ably) more competent translations such as Cary’s and suitable companion to item #2, which is signed by the Longfellow’s. Scarce. ABPC locates no copy offered author himself. $600.00 at auction in the past 30 years. OCLC locates but 2 copies. $750.00 3 1807 John Flaxman was the Flaxman spent seven years studying in Rome. A Sculptor’s View of leading Neo-Classical Britain’s National Portrait Gallery describes this Sculptor in late eighteenth- Divine Comedy time as one that “transformed him from an ob- century Britain and a scure British designer and sculptor into a major well-known designer for Wedgwood Pottery. 4. [FLAXMAN, JOHN (1755-1826)]. Alighieri, international figure with a proven track record in Dante. COMPOSITIONS FROM THE monumental sculpture and decorative design. His outline engravings of 1793-5 illustrating Homer HELL, PURGATORY, AND PARADISE OF and Dante won him an international reputation DANTE ALIGHIERI. FLAXMAN’S DE- unmatched by any contemporary British artist. SIGNS FROM DANTE. Engraved by Thomas He was also appointed the Royal Academy’s first Piroli from the drawings in the possession of Professor of Sculpture in 1810.” Thomas Hope, Esq. 1793. London: Longman, Though over two hundred years old, Flaxman’s Hurst, Rees, and Orne, 1807. stark line drawings are eerily modern in their Oblong folio. 11” x 17”. 110 leaves of plates; interpretation of Dante’s classic poem. $800.00 38 plates to the Inferno, 38 to Purgatorio, and 33 to Paradiso. One plate, between Purgatorio and Paradiso is not numbered and is entitled, “Faith, Hope, and Charity.” In rich, chocolate-colored 5. [FLAXMAN, JOHN (1755-1826)]. boards with vellum spine. Spine soiled. Vellum Alighieri, Dante. “THE CARNAL”, AN cracked on lower joint. Boards rubbed, edges have ENGRAVING FROM “COMPOSITIONS small chips, and corners fraying. Age toning to BY JOHN FLAXMAN FROM THE DIVINE edges of pages. Foxing, though generally affecting POEM OF DANTE ALIGHIERI” Purga- only the margins. Still, a very good copy. tory, Canto 25, The Carnal. London: Longman, This collection of plates illustrated by John Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807. Flaxman was commissioned by the art collector 11” x 17”. Printed on heavy paper. A single Thomas Hope (1769-1831), and was probably engraving from a portfolio published in 1807. begun in April or May 1792, at the same time as The engravings were designed by John Flaxman Flaxman’s work on drawings for Homer’s Iliad and engraved by Thomas Piroli. This particular and Odyssey. engraving is from Canto 25 of Dante’s Divine Flaxman was the leading Neo-classical sculp- Comedy and is entitled “The Carnal.” It depicts tor in late eighteenth-century Britain and a well- the souls of those who in mortal life were slaves known designer for Wedgwood pottery. After to their carnal appetites. Single sheet. A few working as a designer for Josiah Wedgwood, 4 The Atlantic Monthly first published three cantos of Longfellow’s translation of Paradiso in January, 1864, three years before his groundbreaking translation was published in its entirety in book form. 1864 areas of foxing. Three small closed tears around work were in his volume of poems Voices of the the edges and two pinpoint size holes on the left Night (Cambridge, 1839), The Atlantic Monthly and right edge. Suitable for framing. About very was the first to publish his attempt to translate good. $100.00 Paradiso. Longfellow was the first American to translate the entire Comedy into English and was instrumental in the creation of an American culture at a time when most books, music, and art came from Europe. His translation of Dante, “Hardly likely along with works such as The Courtship of Miles Standish and Evangeline, helped to establish to be Superseded or America as a place that had a distinct culture and a place that was capable of creating highly Surpassed...” regarded literary work. A group of prominent poets and writers supported Longfellow in this 6. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). endeavor and christened themselves “The Dante “THREE CANTOS OF DANTE’S PAR- Club.” Longfellow’s much anticipated transla- ADISO” in THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY: tion made Dante’s visionary poem of traveling DEVOTED TO ART, LITERATURE, AND through the afterlife available to the American POLITICS. NUMBER 75, JANUARY 1864. reading public for the very first time. Charles Boston: Ticknor and Fields, January, 1864. Eliot Norton wrote that Longfellow’s translation Clean, tightly bound wrappers with dampstaining was not only “the best that has ever been made of to top, bottom, and side margins of pages inside. the Divine Comedy into English, but also...hardly Text not affected by dampstains. Pages 47-55 likely to be superseded or surpassed.” (La Piana, feature Longfellow’s translation of Cantos XXIII- 98). $150.00 XXV of Paradiso. About very good. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a co-founder of The Atlantic Monthly, first published three cantos of his translation of the Paradiso (the third and final part of the Commedia) in The Atlantic Monthly in January, 1864, three years before his groundbreaking translation of The Divine Comedy was published in its entirety in book form. Though Longfellow’s earliest attempts to translate Dante’s 5 1867 1868–1872 8. [DORÉ, GUSTAVE (1832-1883)]. Alighieri, Grateful Dante. DANTE’S INFERNO and DANTE’s Remembrance PURGATORY AND PARADISE. Translated by The Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A. with 7. [LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADS- Seventy-Six Full Page Illustrations by Gustave WORTH (1807-1882)]. Alighieri, Dante. Doré. New York: Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, ca. THE DIVINE COMEDY OF DANTE 1868-1872. ALIGHIERI, VOL. I, INFERNO. Boston: 4to. 12” x 15”. Published by Cassell, these two Ticknor and Fields, 1867. sets complement one another and are bound Sm. 4to. 7 1/4” x 10”. [i-x], 414 pp. Green in their original light blue wrappers. Each set boards with title stamped in gilt on spine and (Inferno and Purgatory and Paradise) contains “Inferno” stamped in gilt on upper board and Parts 1-13 of 25, for a total of 26 of 50 issues. The blindstamped on lower board. T.e.g. Rubbing, Cassell, Petter & Galpin editions of Doré appear corners bumped. Hinge cracked. Joint beginning on the market most often as two bound volumes to split on lower part of front cover. Tipped in (see items 9 & 10). Though this set is incomplete, is a presentation page (also beginning to loosen) the individually issued parts in wrappers turn stating, “Presented to the Rev. John Maclean, up much less frequently. In very good condition, D.D., LL.D., on his retirement from the presi- with three to five full-page, tissue-guarded Doré dency of Princeton College, N.J., by the Class of plates in each issue followed by several pages of 1858, in token of their grateful remembrance and Dante’s text, as translated by Henry Francis Cary. affectionate esteem.” Good. $75.00 Many pages in each issue unopened. Occasional light foxing and small publisher and binder’s stamp, “S. Walker & Co.” on the cover of each issue. (Malan, 263). $300.00 6 Circa 1880s 10. [DORÉ, GUSTAVE (1832-1883)]. In praise of Doré and Definitive Doré DANTE’S PURGATORY AND PARADISE. his contemporaries, H.P. Lovecraft said, “There’s TRANSLATED BY THE REV. HENRY 9. [DORÉ, GUSTAVE (1832-1883)]. something those fellows FRANCIS CARY, M.A. FROM THE Alighieri, Dante. DANTE’S INFERNO. catch -- beyond life -- TRANSLATED BY HENRY FRANCIS ORIGINAL OF DANTE ALIGHIERI AND that they’re able to make ILLUSTRATED WITH THE DESIGNS us catch for a second. CARY, M.A. FROM THE ORIGINAL OF M. GUSTAVE DORÉ. New York: Cassell Doré had it.” OF DANTE ALIGHIERI AND ILLUS- Publishing Company, ca. 1890. TRATED WITH THE DESIGNS OF M. New edition. Large 4to. 9 1/2” x 12”. 304 pp. GUSTAVE DORÉ. New York: Cassell, Petter, Decorative brown cloth stamped in gilt and black. Galpin and Co., ca. 1880. All edges gilt. Illustrated throughout with full- New edition. Folio. 10 1/2” x 13 1/2”. Deco- page plate engravings by Gustave Doré, including rative brown cloth stamped in gilt and black. frontispiece. Corners and spine ends bumped, All edges gilt. Illustrated throughout with the mild rubbing, occasional age toning to edges definitive full-page plate engravings by Gustave of pages. Bit of rubbing to front board and top Doré, including frontispiece with tissue guard. of rear board. We also offer the c. 1880 Cassell Slight fraying to spine ends, corners lightly edition of Dante’s Inferno with Doré illustrations. bumped, mild rubbing, occasional light foxing. (Item 9). (Malan, 265). Very Good. $150.00 Bookplate of Scott Helm. Ffep creased. A hand- some copy with spectacular illustrations. We also offer the c. 1880 Cassell edition of Dante’s Purgatory and Paradise (Item 10). Cloth. (Malan, 265). Very Good. $150.00 7 Circa 1890s 1892 Hand-Painted Binding A Fine Daybook 11. Gitner, Karl. DANTE’S GOTTLICHE 12. Lodovico. FIOR DA FIORE DALLE OP- KOMODIE AUS DEM ITALIENISCHEN ERE DI DANTE. Firenze: G.Barbera, 1892. VON KARL GITNER. Liepzig and Wien: Sm. 8vo. 5” x 6 3/4”. 300+ un-numbered pp. Bibliographisches Institut, ca. 1890s. Parchment-colored leather exquisitely stamped Sm.8vo. 5 1/4” x 7 1/4”. [i-v], vi-xxxii, [1-3], with scarlet and gilt fleur-de-lys and scrolls. In 4-172 pp. Bound in hand-painted vellum with original scarlet cloth dustjacket and matching yapp edges. The stubs of four leather ties (now scarlet slipcase. Gilt floral endpapers and original missing) are present. Elaborate painting of a gold red silk bookmark. Features a quote from the dragon on a red background with a coat of arms works of Dante for every day of the year, each in green. Titles in blue and green calligraphy. page with elaborate floral borders. Color title Elaborate red and gold Florentine scrollwork on page and prelim. in the style of an illuminated spine and lower board. Boards rubbed. Front end- manuscript. Bound by G. Giannini. Highly paper beginning to detach from binding. Previous attractive book in fine condition with a fine dust- owner bookplate (dated 1976) affixed to front jacket in a near fine slipcase. $750.00 endpaper. Else very good. Although it is undated, the binding is similar to other psuedo-medieval bindings made in Florence for tourists visiting the place of Dante’s birth. Such bindings reached their peak of popularity in the late 19th and early 20th century. $400.00 8