Dante - Divina Commedia - 1791

DANTE AMID RUINS, MOUNTAINS, AND MORAL APOCALYPSES: THE GREAT ROMAN EDITION OF LOMBARDI
Very rare first Roman edition of the Divine Comedy with the famous commentary by Baldassarre Lombardi, one of the most important and influential Dante interpretations of the late eighteenth century. The work marks a fundamental moment in the modern rediscovery of Dante: Lombardi compared manuscripts and ancient editions — including the Nidobeatina of 1477/1478 and the very first fourteenth-century prints from Foligno and Mantua — building a philologically ambitious text and accompanying it with a vast exegetical apparatus. The engraved plates are extraordinary, visualizing the cosmic architecture of Hell and Purgatory as gigantic metaphysical and initiatic structures. The specimen preserves elegant contemporary full leather bindings with gold decorations on the backs and marbled flyleaves.
MARKET VALUE
The early editions of Baldassarre Lombardi’s commentary are highly sought after in the history of Dantean publishing, especially in contemporaneous bindings and with the plates complete. Complete three-volume copies can fetch prices ranging from 2,500 to 6,000 euros depending on condition. The present set, consisting of the first two complete volumes of three, nevertheless holds notable bibliographic and collectible interest, with an indicative valuation between 800 and 1,000 euros.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary full red morocco bindings with marbled sides, spined with raised bands and rich floral decorations, titles in gold; Hell and Purgatory, Paradiso is missing third volume. Red edges and marbled flyleaves. Volume I with an antiporta copper-engraved plate depicting the structure of Hell. Volume II with an antiporta copper-engraved plate depicting the Mountain of Purgatory. Some minor foxing on pages, marginal stains and signs of age. Wear and losses to spines and headcaps. In ancient books, with a long history, there may be some imperfections not always noted in the description. Pp. (4); 2nn; 28; 502; (4). (4); 2nn; 524; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri again corrected, explained, and defended by F.B.L.M.C.
Rome, at Antonio Fulgoni, 1791.
Dante Alighieri.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Lombardi edition holds a central place in the history of Dante’s modern reception. In the fully Enlightenment era, when the poem was studied again as a monument of the Italian national language, Baldassarre Lombardi undertook a vast philological comparison of ancient editions and manuscripts. His commentary aims to “explain and defend” Dante, restoring to him poetic and linguistic dignity against criticisms accumulated over the preceding centuries. The famous engraved plates that accompany the volumes also transform the Commedia into a true cosmological atlas: Hell appears as a concentric, ordered abyss, while Purgatory takes the form of an initiatic mountain leading toward the earthly Paradise. The collection already anticipates Romantic sensibility and the future nineteenth-century “cult” of Dante.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and is considered the father of the Italian language. A poet, philosopher, and statesman, he composed the Divine Comedy during his exile, building one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem, divided into Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, unites theology, philosophy, politics, astronomy, and poetic vision in a gigantic symbolic architecture that has influenced European culture as a whole.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE COMMENTATOR
Baldassarre Lombardi, a Franciscan conventual born in 1718, was one of the most important Dante scholars of the eighteenth century. His work on the Commedia marked a turning point in modern Dante philology thanks to his systematic use of manuscripts and ancient editions. The Roman edition of 1791 remains his editorial and critical masterpiece.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Printed in Rome by Antonio Fulgoni in 1791, this edition represents the first appearance of Lombardi’s commentary and one of the great Dantean printing enterprises of the late eighteenth century. The text was developed through comparison with Nidobeatina and numerous manuscript testimonies. The copper-engraved plates of Hell and Purgatory greatly contributed to the work’s visual appeal between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Complete copies in contemporary bindings are increasingly difficult to find.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Mambelli, Gli annali delle edizioni dantesche, no. 78.
Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua, no. 397.
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, II, p. 331.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, records of the Fulgoni 1791 edition.
De Batines, Bibliografia dantesca.
Censimento delle edizioni italiane del XVIII secolo, Rome, Fulgoni.
British Library, catalogs of eighteenth-century Dante editions.
Parenti, Prime edizioni italiane.
Cataloghi Hoepli e Olschki di dantistica antica.