Guarini - Historiam - [Gerusalemme] - 1740-1741

BOLOGNA TRANSFORMS THE EPOPEE OF TASSO INTO A PHILOLOGICAL LABORATORY
This monumental Bologna edition of 1740-1741 dedicated to La Gerusalemme Liberata testifies to the survival of the Tasso myth in the midst of Italian high-18th-century erudition. The work does not merely present Torquato Tasso’s poem; it directly intervenes in its textual tradition through supplements, corrections, animadversions, and philological observations elaborated by Jacopo Guarini on the previous Historia Hierosolymitana compiled by Ferrante Borsetti. The result is a true critical laboratory in which the epic text is analyzed, corrected, expanded, and almost “restored” according to the eighteenth-century academic taste. In this philological culture, Tasso is not only a poet: he is a national monument to be preserved, emended, and continually reinterpreted. The allegorical engravings, the monumental portrait of the poet, and the addenda et mutanda sections transform the volume into a typically eighteenth-century object, suspended between literary veneration, antiquarian erudition, and an obsession with textual perfection.
MARKET VALUE
The erudite eighteenth-century editions of Tasso, especially complete with critical apparatus, engravings, and contemporary bindings, are sought after in the circulation of Italian literature and the history of philology. Complete and genuine copies like this typically range from 700 to 1,200 euros on the international antique market, with particular interest in annotated copies or those from historic libraries.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
A volume divided into two parts. Typographic title-page with a woodcut publisher’s mark. Engraved frontispiece illustrating an allegorical equestrian scene. Incised portrait of Torquato Tasso within an elaborate Baroque monumental architecture. Ornate woodcut initials, typographic ornaments, and decorative finials. Present final section “Addenda et Mutanda” with philological corrections and additions. Copy with slight browning and physiognomic signs of use. Beetle-holes throughout the binding and marginally on some sheets, without significant compromise to the text. Contemporary full parchment binding with manuscript title on the spine. An authentic and strongly scholarly volume. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present and not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 2nn; 84; 150; 2nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Historiam per Ferrantem Borsettum conscriptam supplementum, & animadversiones, pars prima [-secunda].
Bononiae, ex typographia Laurentii Martelli, 1740-1741.
Guarini, Jacopo.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The work belongs to the long and complex editorial tradition of La Gerusalemme Liberata and its critical reception between the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. In Bologna’s academic milieu, the Tasso poem is treated as a classic text to be philologically restored through variants, supplements, and corrections. Jacopo Guarini intervenes on the Historia Hierosolymitana compiled by Ferrante Borsetti, enlarging it with critical observations and additional materials intended to clarify, perfect, and systematize the text’s tradition. The addenda et mutanda sections perfectly reflect eighteenth-century erudite mentality, obsessed with linguistic purity and textual accuracy. Parallel to this, the iconographic apparatus helps consolidate the myth of Tasso as the heroic and quasi-sacred poet of Italian culture.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Jacopo Guarini (1651–1735) was an Italian scholar, philologist, and teacher associated with the scholarly circles of northern Italy. He focused especially on literary criticism, textual history, and Italian philological tradition, with particular attention to Torquato Tasso’s editorial fortune. His works reflect the erudite taste of the late Baroque and early Italian Enlightenment.

BIOGRAPHY OF TORQUATO TASSO
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) was one of the greatest poets of the Italian Renaissance. His La Gerusalemme Liberata revolutionized the epic poem in Europe by fusing Counter-Reformation spirituality, psychological introspection, and chivalric heroism. His troubled life contributed to the birth of the Romantic myth of the persecuted and brilliant poet, destined to exert enormous influence on European culture.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Printed in Bologna between 1740 and 1741 by Lorenzo Martelli, this edition belongs to the tradition of great Italian scholarly publications devoted to national classics. Bologna, an important university and philological center, developed in the eighteenth century a vibrant editorial activity linked to the critical revision of Italian literary texts. Tasso’s works continued to be reprinted and commented on as supreme models of language, eloquence, and Christian epic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/OPAC SBN, records related to the Bologna edition of 1740-1741.
USTC, records of annotated eighteenth-century Tasso editions.
Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua, repertori tassiani.
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, VI, pp. relating to Tasso and Guarini.
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, V, coll. dedicated to the editions of La Gerusalemme Liberata.
DBI – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, entries “Guarini, Jacopo”, “Borsetti, Ferrante” and “Tasso, Torquato.”
British Library, catalogs of eighteenth-century Tasso editions.
BnF, catalogs of annotated eighteenth-century Italian editions.
Morazzoni, Bibliografia tassiana.
Catalogs of eighteenth-century Italian academies relating to Tasso studies.