1863 Rare Italian Vellum Book - La Vita Nuova di Dante Allighieri, The New Life

Author: Dante Alighieri. (edited and commented by G.-B. Giuliani).
Title: La Vita Nuova e Il Canzoniere.
Publisher: Firenze, G. Barbèra, Editore, 1863.
Language: Text in Italian.
Size: 4 x 2.5 inches.  
Pages: xx-477 pages. 
Binding: Attractive and very good, beautiful and very well-preserved bespoke full vellum binding, likely late 19th century. Smooth cream vellum with gilt monogram “F. D” of Flora Dunolly, to front board, elegant gilt geometric tooling to spine, and red gilt-titled morocco label (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. All edges brilliantly red, marbled endpapers in red, blue, and white. Minimal age toning and a few tiny natural vellum spots, but overall exceptionally clean, tight, and refined.
Content: Very good, near fine content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing - as shown, early ink ownership inscription “Flora Dunolly, 18 Feb. 1880” to half-title and small printed monogram stamp - as shown). A very well-preserved example.

Estimate: (USD 200–350).

The book: A charming and elegantly bound 19th-century Florentine edition of La Vita Nuova and Dante’s lyrical Canzoniere, edited and annotated by the respected Dante scholar G. B. Giuliani. First printed in 1294, La Vita Nuova blends prose narrative and poetry to recount Dante’s transformative and idealized love for Beatrice, forming the emotional and spiritual foundation of the Divine Comedy. Paired with the Canzoniere, this edition presents Dante’s early poetic mastery with scholarly context, making it both a literary and historical treasure.

The author: Dante Alighieri (c. 1265 – 14 September 1321) is considered the father of the Italian language and one of the greatest writers in world literature. His works—especially The Divine Comedy—reshaped European thought, merging medieval theology, philosophy, political commentary, and poetic innovation. Dante’s influence reaches from Petrarch and Boccaccio to T. S. Eliot, Borges, O. Mandelstam, Seamus Heaney, and countless others. La Vita Nuova, composed in his youth, remains one of the most significant works of medieval love literature.