Torquato Tasso - Gerusalemme conquistata - 1593

Splendid and rare first (absolute) edition — or contemporary 1593 issue — of Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, printed in Rome by Guglielmo Facciotti. The volume is complete with all of its very important preliminary pages, which are often missing or censored in other copies. Inside are perfectly preserved: the official Imprimatur of the Catholic Church (dated Rome, October 1592), the famous dedicatory letter from Tasso to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini (signed by the author on November 10, 1593), and the beautiful first page of the text (Book One). The work is richly decorated with splendid wood-engraved borders, lively headpieces, tailpieces, and large historiated initials carved in wood, as well as the cardinal's coat of arms imprinted on the preliminary leaves. Condition: The inner pages are in exceptional condition for a text of over 430 years: the paper is crisp, sound, free of invasive restorations, and with very wide margins. Externally, the volume is bound in a solid and elegant half-leather binding from the early 19th century with gold tooling on the spine, bearing the imprint “30” (the book was in fact inserted as the thirtieth volume in a wealthy library of the era, as evidenced also by the handwritten ownership note “M.C.C. l’a. 1830” on the flyleaf). A collectible piece of great charm for lovers of Renaissance Italian literature.