G. Boccaccio - La Fiammetta - 1859

Giovanni Boccaccio
La Fiammetta
with the Consolatory Letter to Mr. Pino de’ Rossi

Florence, Barbèra, Bianchi & C., 1859
Series “Diamante”

Format: 10.5 × 6.7 cm (small “pocket” edition of the period).
Pages: VI, 425 pp. + engraved portrait of G. Boccaccio.
Hard paper binding in period stiff cardboard (slight signs of aging).

A complete and genuine copy. Portrait present. Small tear at the bottom of the front cover (as visible in the photos), otherwise in good condition for a commonplace nineteenth-century volume, with fresh and legible leaves.

This is one of the elegant nineteenth-century editions of the famous Barbèra “Diamante” series, noted for its philological care and portable format. Edited by Pietro Fanfani, this print is based on good early editions and manuscripts, distinguished by its fidelity to the text compared with the manipulations of earlier editors. Editions of this type, especially in a small format with a portrait, are sought after by collectors of Boccaccio and nineteenth-century Italian literature. The volume combines two significant texts: the Elegy of Madonna Fiammetta and the Consolatory Letter.

La Fiammetta (written by Boccaccio between 1343 and 1344) is considered one of the first psychological novels of Western literature. Narrated in the first person as a long confession, it follows the story of Fiammetta, a Neapolitan noblewoman, who falls hopelessly in love with Panfilo during a religious ceremony. After an intense clandestine passion, Panfilo returns to Florence and the relationship turns into a torment of jealousy, abandonment, and despair.

The work explores with extraordinary modernity the inner motions of obsessive love, suffering, and jealousy, ideally addressing the “loved women.”

Accompanying the text is Boccaccio’s Consolatory Letter to Pino de’ Rossi, a work in a moral and consolatory tone.

A small library jewel for enthusiasts of Italian classics, fourteenth-century literature, and precious nineteenth-century editions. An edition fascinating both for its innovative content and for its pocket-size format of the era.