La seconda cena... all' illustriss. sig. Giovanni Bouverye cavaliere inglese.

Italic type.

8vo (168 x 100mm.) VIII, 220pp. Contemporary Italian vellum, red morocco label, red edges.

Rare collection of short stories in the manner of Boccaccio by Anton Francesco Grazzini (1503-84), nicknamed ‘Il Lasca’ (the roach) by contemporaries for his abrasiveness. A founding member of the Accademia della Crusca and a key participant in the linguistic debates of the time, Grazzini’s Cene were only published for the first time in the eighteenth century; this is the first edition of the Seconda Cena on its own. A counterfeit edition with 228pp. was published with the same date and a similarly fictitious imprint. The rarity of this work is attributed by Gamba and Brunet to the fact that all copies that could be found were publicly burned by Cardinal Vitaliano Borromeo (1720-93) for their indecency. Browning to a few leaves. Small, neat repair to upper blank margin of f.E2, not touching text.

Parenti, 185. Brunet II, 1720. Gamba 539.

OCLC: (US: Stanford, Notre Dame, Kansas, Harvard, Minnesota. UK: Oxford. Counterfeit with 228pp more commonly found in institutions).