£500
FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, 4to, pp. [viii], 198, [2], [viii], 40, 16. Late 18th-century straight-grained black morocco, boards bordered with gilt rules and a blind roll, spine divided by raised bands between gilt rules, second compartment gilt-lettered direct and the rest infilled with blind tooling, marbled endpapers. A little minor spotting. Binding rubbed, a little insect damage to head of front joint. Later ownership inscription to initial blank: ‘Agnes Payne from Revd. L. Jones’
The major published poems of Benedetto Dell'Uva (1540-1582), a Benedictine monk, in their first collection edition: each been first published individually in 1582 shortly before the author's death. While the earlier editions were sometimes found bound together, they are here first issued together, a state which would be repeated in subsequent editions of 1588 and 1599. The longest poem, 'Le Vergini Prudenti', relates the martyrdoms of saints Agatha, Lucia, Agnesa, Justine, and Catherine of Alexandria; Dell'Uva saw himself as the initiator of a new genre of sacred epic. The second is a contrite and penitent reflection on the theme of death, dedicated to Geronima Colonna, Duchess of Monteleone. The third work here, the shortest, depicts the titular Doroteo the true (spiritual) meaning of love.
