1881 Italian Vellum Book - La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy
Author: Dante Alighieri. Commentary by Pietro Fraticelli.
Title: La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri col comento di Pietro Fraticelli.
Publisher: Firenze, G. Barbèra, Editore, 1881. Nuova edizione con giunte e correzioni.
Language: Text in Italian.
Size: 7.5 x 5 inches.
Pages: 723, CXXX pages.
Binding: Very good decorative full vellum binding, richly stamped in gilt with red ruled borders to the covers, gilt decoration to the spine, marbled endpapers, and all edges red. Spine darkened and title somewhat faded, with general soiling and foxing to vellum, light rubbing to edges and corners, and minor wear as shown. Binding remains sound, solid, and very attractive. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content overall, with light to moderate foxing and occasional toning throughout, as usual for the edition. Early ownership inscription dated Firenze, 15 Aprile 1886, on front blank. A complete and well-preserved copy.
Illustrations: Complete with a fine frontispiece portrait of Dante Alighieri and three plates placed at the beginning of the three parts of the Divine Comedy, including the diagrams for Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
Estimate: (USD 250 – 350)
The book: La Divina Commedia is one of the supreme works of world literature, here presented in an elegant 1881 Florentine edition published by G. Barbèra. This edition includes the commentary of Pietro Fraticelli, one of the important nineteenth-century Dante scholars, together with historical notes on the poet, a rhyming index, a general index, and three illustrative plates.
This copy is especially appealing in its decorative vellum binding, with gilt ornamentation, red ruling, marbled endpapers, and red edges. The added portrait of Dante and the three cosmological plates give the volume a strong visual and scholarly character, making it both a handsome library copy and a practical nineteenth-century reading edition of Dante’s masterpiece.
The author: Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was the great Florentine poet whose Divine Comedy stands at the foundation of Italian literature and remains one of the most influential poems ever written. Composed in the early fourteenth century, the work follows the soul’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, blending theology, philosophy, politics, poetry, and personal vision into a monumental structure of extraordinary imaginative power.
The commentator: Pietro Fraticelli (1803–1866) was an Italian scholar and editor known for his important work on Dante and early Italian literature. His commentary helped make the Divine Comedy more accessible to nineteenth-century readers, combining philological attention with explanatory notes on Dante’s historical, theological, and literary references.