Gian Giorgio Trissino - La poetica - 1529

(Poetry; history of printing; first editions; rariora)., Gian Giorgio TRISSINO. .La poetica di M. Giovan Giorgio Trissino Vicenza, Tolomeo Ianiculo, 1529 (colophon). Large 4° (287 x 172), LXVIII, [2] leaves, modern binding from an ancient antiphonary leaf, large size printer's device on last leaf "verso", representing the golden fleece on a tree guarded by a snake, illustration surrounded by a Greek inscription from Sophocles, a nice, well margined copy, neatly printed on crisp paper.

Text in vernacular language, with numerous newly introduced graphic features and printed in the magnificent cursive characters specially designed for the author by the papal scribe, type designer, engraver and typographer Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi (1475?–1527?). Title page still in incunabula style, bearing only the title , various grammatical schemes and examples in text.

First edition, first issue, without the errata, added only to subsequent issues; the work, one of the most successful and comprehensive treatises on the art of metric appeared in the 16th century, already enjoyed widespread and well-deserved fame among its contemporaries. A masterpiece in the art of typography, composed by one of the leading humanist of the renaissance, a significant contribute to the italian language development.

The renowned italian poet Torquato Tasso wrote of it as follows:
«Ne fo molta stima, perché egli fu il primo che ci diede alcuna luce del modo di poetare tenuto da’ greci; et arricchì questa lingua di nobilissimi componimenti».

“Cette ouvrage renferme plusieurs poésies italiennes antérieures à Dante. Les 5 et 6 divisions on paru séparément à Venice en 1563 in-4⁰ chez Arrivabene.” (Graesse).

Ref:Cfr. BRUNET, vol. 5, p. 952; ADAMS, T955; GRAESSE, VII, p. 200; GAMBA, B. Testi di lingua, no. 1706; MARSHALL, R.G. STC Italian, III, p. 300; BM STC Italian, 1465-1600, p. 681; MORSOLIN, Giangiorgio Trissino. Monografia d’un gentiluomo letterato nel secolo XVI, Firenze, Successori le Monnier, 1894, p. 476. About the printer see: G. CASTELLANI, “Da Tolomeo Ianiculo a Bartolomeo Zanetti via Giangiorgio Trissino,” in La Bibliofilia, Florence, 1992, 94 (2) pp. 171-185