Ludovico Ariosto - Orlando furioso - 1772-1773

(LITERATURE; ILLUSTRATED; RARIORA) Ludovico ARIOSTO (1474-1533)
Orlando Furioso di M. Lodovico Ariosto. Tomi I. [IV.]. Venezia, presso Antonio Zatta, 1772-3.
§ 4 volumes, 4to (285x205); I: [9] leaves, LX pp., [150] ll. Signature: *-**4, an extra leaf numbered *3 (Stanze del Furioso da tralasciarne la lettura) inserted between *4 and **1, a-g4, h2, A-Z4, Aa-Oo4, Pp2; II: [214] leaves, signature A-z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Fff4, Ggg6 signature A-z4,Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Ddd4, Eee6 III: [206] ll, IV: [268] ll, signature A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Xxx4. 58 engraved plates (including frontispiece and portrait), 40 large engravings (3 head-pieces and 37 tail-pieces), 51 half-page engravings (argomento or summary, at the beginning of each canto), several engraved initials. Contemporary calf, gilt spine with five ribs, gilt morocco labels on spines. A unique and beautiful copy with full, original margins, on large paper, of an unknown variant; engravings extremely limpid with a splendid chiaroscuro rendering. A MASTERPIECE IN XVIIITH CENTURY TYPOGRAPHY
The only known copy of an unrecorded variant of the celebrated Orlando by Zatta. Apparently an early print (possibly a last proof before the final printing or a gift for the financing sponsors of the work), in this copy - completely printed on laid paper - the following differences may be observed: the first leaf of each volume is a printed title, verso blank, while the first leaf of the first volume of the “regular” issue is a half-title with instructions to the binder on verso and in each volume an engraved title is present. The abscence of instruction to the binder and a simpler title page are consistent with an early or “proof” issue. Engraving designed by by Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729-1804) and others and engraved by Giuliano Zuliani (1730 - 1814), Tommaso Baratti (fl. 1772 - 1801), Ferdinando Fambrini (fl. 1763 - 1794), Giacomo Malosso (fl. 1772 - 1773) and others. The text was edited and revised by Leonardo Marcellotto (fl. 1744 - 1773) and Antonio Cilis (fl. 1772 - 1773); at the beginning of the first volume the biography of Ludovico Ariosto by Giovanni Andrea Barotti (1701 - 1772) in third edition, enlarged and with the addition of several annotations at the end (Vita... riveduta e accresciuta per la terza volta, e di Annotazioni non poco aumentata, che si sono poste in fine d’essa).
 AGNELLI-RAVEGNANI Annali delle edizioni ariostee I, pp. 202-204; BRUNET I, 437; DE GRASSI p. 169.