Rime et Prose di M. Giovanni Della Casa. Riscontrate con i migliori originali, & ricorrette con grandissima diligentia.

Woodcut device on title page, ornaments, historiated initials throughout.

8vo (150 x 100mm). 4, [4], 128 ff. (A7-8, N8 blank, B2 misnumbered as A2). Later calf with double-filleted, blind-tooled border, raised bands on spine with gilt lettering in second compartment and at tail (neatly rebacked with original spine, some bumping to corners and discolouration of edges, wear and rubbing to upper and lower boards).

Venice, Domenico Farri, 

An uncommon edition of the works of churchman and humanist Giovanni della Casa (1503-56). A reprint of the 1564 Giunti edition overseen by Gherardo Spini, this Venetian edition differs in its dedication, which is addressed to the printer's patron Simone Bonamino de Pesaro, rather than poet Mario Colonna (Gamba).

This volume includes Della Casa's famous treatise on social manners and etiquette, Il Galateo. First published in a collection under this title in 1558 and subsequently as a separate edition in 1559, Il Galateo followed Castiglione's Cortegiano as an instruction manual for social conduct. It did mark a departure from the strict rubric that Castiglione laid out for elevated society, however, in that Della Casa's advice was intended not only for courts and courtiers, but all aspiring members of the cultivated and educated classes. The treatise and much of his other work were published only after Della Casa's death (and very nearly not at all, the writer having given instructions to his nephew to burn it all). Both the Rime et Prose and Il Galateo appeared in numerous editions across Europe throughout the sixteenth century and beyond (as recently as 2013 the University of Chicago Press released a new edition of the Galateo). 

Annotation on either side of device on title page, with marginal and interlinear annotations throughout.  Title handwritten on lower edge. 

Water staining to head of first few leaves, light foxing throughout, particularly noticeable on final leaf; tear to lower blank margin of H3, not touching text.

CNCE 16474. BMSTC (Italian) Supplement, p.28. (Not in Adams). Gamba, no.279. 

Stock Code: 227759