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Il Petrarcha

Overview

Place of Publication

Venice
Italy

Date of Publication
1541-1542
Creator
Related to Petrarch's

RVF, Triumphi

Dedicatee

Description

Physical Description: Format

8°; a-z8, &8, ?4, A8, A-C8; 180, [48] fols.

Physical Description: Textblock

paper; Petrarch’s poems and annotations in italic type; printed numbering; two layouts: Petrarch’s poems printed with one verse per line for main text; single lines or small sections of Petrarch’s poems set on left with text of annotations distributed across the page beneath each of them; six full-page woodcuts and one portrait.

Visual Elements
Title Page

IL PETRARCHA. | [Petrarch’s portrait]

Internal Description

a1r: title page;

a1v: blank;

a2r-a2v: Bernardo Giunta’s dedicatory letter to Don Michele da Silva (‘Al svo ill[ustrissimo] sig[nor] don Michele da Silve [sic] ora. del re di Portogal[lo] al s[anto] pont[efice] Bernardo di Givnta s[crive]’);

a2v-n2v: RVF 1-263 (‘Sonetti et canzoni di messer Francesco Petrarcha in vita di madonna Lavra’);

n2v-s3r: RVF 264-366 (‘Sonetti et canzoni di messer Francesco Petrarcha in morte di madonna Lavra’);

s3v-z4v: Triumphi (‘Triomphi di m[esser] F[rancesco] Petrarcha’); each triumph is preceded by a full-page woodcut: Amoris (S3v), Pudicitie (t8v), Mortis (u4v), Fame (x3v), Temporis (y6v), Eternitatis (z1v);

z5r-&3r: alphabetical index of first lines of RVF poems with metre specified (under each letter of the alphabet, poems are listed in order of appearance);

&3v: index of the first lines of the capitoli in the Triumphi in order of appearance;

&4r-&7v: three canzoni by Guido Cavalcanti (‘Donna mi prega, perche voglio dire’), Dante Alighieri (‘Cosi nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro’), and Cino da Pistoia (‘La dolce uista, el bel guardo soaue’);

&7v-&8v: poems addressed to Petrarch by Geri Gianfigliazzi (‘Messer Francesco chi d’Amor sospira’), Giovanni Dondi dall’Orologio (‘Io non so ben s’io vedo quel, ch’io veggio’), Sennuccio del Bene (‘Oltra l’usato modo si regira’), and Giacomo Colonna (‘Se le parti del corpo mio destrutte’); each poem is followed by the first line of Petrarch’s reply accompanied by the page number where the poem is printed;

?1r-?3v: Giunta’s address to readers (‘Bernardo di Givnta a lettori’);

?3v-?4v: list of errata (‘Correctioni de gli errori fatti nello imprimere’);

?4v: register and colophon: Stampato in Venetia per Bernardino Bindoni lanno M. D. XLII. del mese di marzo;

A1r-B1v: introductory paragraph to the exposition of obscure passages in form of address to readers (‘A candidi lettori’; <inc> Essendo hoggi mai tempo, di darui la promessa ispositione di tutti i piu difficili luoghi; <exp> ch’io parlo per ver dire, non per odio d’altrui ne per disprezzo);

B2r-C7v: exposition of obscure passages of RVF and Triumphi (‘Voi ch’ascoltate’; <inc> Vi s’intende, sappiate, che, persuadeteui, rendeteui certi voglio che pensiate, o crediate; <exp> intendendo di L[aura] gia collocata nel coro de beati. Alcuni il fanno interrogatiuo);

C7v: register and colophon: Impresso in Vinegia, per Bernardino Bindoni milanese, regnando l’inclito & serenissimo duce del senato venetiano Pietro Lando, nel anno M. D. XXXXI. adi.14.de nouembrio;

C8r-A1v: blank;

A2r-A4v: Petrarch’s disperse (canzone ‘Qvel, c’ha, vostra natura in se piu degno’, ballad ‘Noua bellezza in habito gentile’, sonnet ‘Anima doue sei? ch’adora ad hora’);

A4v-A5v: poems addressed to Petrarch by Jacopo de’ Caratori da Imola [actually Antonio da Ferrara’s] (‘O nouella Tarpea in cui s’asconde’) and Pietro Dietisalvi (‘Il bello occhio d’Apollo del cui sguardo’); each poem is followed by full text of Petrarch’s reply (sonnets ‘Ingengo vsato alle question profonde’ and ‘Se Phebo al primo amor non è bugiardo’ respectively);

A5v-A7r: Petrarch’s disperse (sonnets ‘Quella ghirlanda chella bella fronte’, ‘Stato fussio, quando la vidi prima’, ‘In ira à i cieli, al mondo, et alla gente’, ‘Se sotto legge Amor viuesse quella’, ‘Lasso com’io fui mal approueduto’, ‘Quella, che ’l giouenil mio cor auinse’);

A7v-A8v: blank.

Copy Seen

Location

Biblioteca Civica A. Hortis
Trieste
Italy

Shelfmark
PETR. I AA 0294
Copy seen by
Lorenzo
Sacchini
Location

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
Florence
Italy

Shelfmark
RARI.22.B.8.85
Copy seen by
Lorenzo
Sacchini
Notes

This print is provided with the set of annotations firstly introduced by Paolus Manutius for the 1533 print Il Petrarca (Venice: eredi di Aldo Manuzio, eredi di Andrea Torresano). Manuzius opted for a very concise explanatory exegesis on the obscure passages of RVF and Triumphi in marked contrast to Gesualdo’s commentary (Il Petrarcha colla spositione di misser Giouanni Andrea Gesualdo: Venice, Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio & fratelli) printed the same year. The annotations provide a close reading of a selection of Petrarch’s poems, focusing on grammatical and linguistic aspects and on questions of orthography and punctuation. The authorship of these annotations is still disputed.