Luigi Pulci - Il Morgante Maggiore - 1732

THE CAVALIER LINGUIST MASTERPIECE OF LUIGI PULCI IN THE PRESTIGIOUS FLORENTINE EDITION OF 1732
Florentine edition of 1732 of the famous Morgante Maggiore by Luigi Pulci, one of the most important eighteenth-century reissues of the great chivalric poem composed in the second half of the fifteenth century. Elegant in its typographic appearance and enriched by the magnificent copper-engraved portrait of the author in the frontispiece and by the title page printed in red and black, this edition bears witness to the Enlightenment rediscovery of the great classics of Italian literature. Pulci’s poem constitutes one of the foundations of Renaissance chivalric narrative, an ideal bridge between medieval cantari and the masterpieces of Bojardo and Ariosto. An exemplar preserved in its authentic contemporary parchment binding, typical of Italian libraries of the eighteenth century.
WHY TO BUY
• Complete with the beautiful copper-engraved frontispiece showing the portrait of Luigi Pulci.
• A foundational work of Renaissance Italian literature.
• A highly sought edition by international collectors.

MARKET VALUE
The finest copies of the Florence edition of 1732 of the Morgante Maggiore are continually in demand on the international antiquarian market. Complete copies with the frontispiece, well preserved and in a contemporaneous binding typically command prices between €1,000 and €2,500, with higher values for particularly pristine copies, of notable provenance, or preserved in exceptional condition.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Quarto volume. Contemporary limp parchment binding with manuscript title on the spine and original through-stitches still visible. Normal signs of age, slight abrasions, and a notable loss to the spine, perfectly compatible with an eighteenth-century binding. Copper-engraved frontispiece with the portrait of Luigi Pulci. Typographic title page in red and black. Overall fresh paper with light browning at margins and sporadic foxing. Wide margins. Genuine exemplar, structurally solid and very pleasing.
Pages 484.
Final index leaves. Text laid out in two columns. Initials and woodcut ornaments.
In old books with a long, multigenerational history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Luigi Pulci.
Il Morgante Maggiore di Messer Luigi Pulci Fiorentino.
Florence, MDCCXXXII (1732).

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Composed in the Medicean Florence of the second half of the fifteenth century, the Morgante Maggiore represents one of the most original and influential works of Italian literature. Luigi Pulci transforms the traditional Carolingian cycle into a poem remarkably modern, where epic coexists with satire, the comic with the tragic, humanistic culture with popular language. The gigantic Morgante, converted by Orlando to the Christian faith, becomes the symbol of a narrative universe free and unpredictable, where a taste for the marvelous is coupled with inexhaustible irony. The work exerted a decisive influence on Matteo Maria Boiardo and especially on Ludovico Ariosto, paving the way for the great era of Renaissance chivalric poetry. The 1732 edition testifies to the renewed eighteenth-century interest in Italian classics and stands as one of the most elegant typographic realizations devoted to Pulci’s masterpiece.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Luigi Pulci (1432-1484) was one of the greatest poets of Medicean Florence and a leading figure in the brilliant cultural season promoted by Lorenzo de’ Medici. Endowed with a highly personal style, he united medieval chivalric tradition with humanistic culture, introducing into the epic poem an ironic and realistic vein hitherto unknown. The Morgante Maggiore remains his absolute masterpiece and one of the most important works of Renaissance European literature.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Since the quattrocento princeps, the Morgante Maggiore enjoyed a vast editorial diffusion. The Florence edition of 1732 belongs to the era of the great reissues of Italian classics promoted in the eighteenth century, when there was a need to restore to the public the fundamental works of the national literary tradition through elegant typographic editions. Thanks to the quality of the printing, the presence of the engraved portrait, and the careful layout, this edition is today one of the most appreciated by collectors and scholars of Renaissance literature.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Gamba, Serie dei Testi di Lingua.
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres.
Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux.
Melzi, Dizionario di Opere Anonime e Pseudonime.
ICCU – Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale.
WorldCat – OCLC.
Sander, Le Livre à Figures Italien.
ISTC / USTC (bibliographic tradition of ancient Morgante editions).