Tasso - Il Goffredo Figurato - 1728

[Please note that the background setting in some images was created using AI to present the books in a pleasant environment. These background elements do not alter or affect the true representation and condition of the books]

FIGURATIVE TASSO: THE FIRST EDITION OF THE PADUA SEMINAR SEMINAR, 1728, WITH 20 ENGAVINGS
Elegant eighteenth-century illustrated edition of Torquato Tasso’s masterpiece, published in Padua in 1728.
The title page is printed in red and black and the volume is preceded by a beautiful copper-engraved half-title.
Each of the twenty cantos is accompanied by a full-page engraving, for a total of 20 plates. The edition also includes the Life of the poet drawn from Lorenzo Crasso’s Elogi and the Allegory of the poem.
First edition of Il Goffredo issued from the famous Stamperia del Seminario di Padova, particularly prized for typographic correctness and the freshness of the engravings.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST PADUA SEMINARY EDITION – It is the first edition of the poem produced by the famous Stamperia del Seminario di Padova; Guidi regards it as the most beautiful and correct of the subsequent reprints produced by the same workshop.
COMPLETE ILLUSTRATIVE CYCLE – Copper-engraved half-title and 20 full-page engravings, one for each canto, constitute a rich iconographic apparatus conceived especially to accompany the poem.
RED AND BLACK TITLE PAGE – The refined two-color frontispiece in red and black greatly enhances the collectible character of the edition.
CONTEMPORARY VELLUM – The specimen retains an evocative old binding in full parchment with the title handwritten on the spine “Il Tasso Figurato,” particularly coherent with the illustrated nature of the volume.

MARKET VALUE
For this specimen, complete with the illustrative apparatus and in its old parchment binding, a range of €450–750 appears consistent with the current antique retail market.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Ancient, presumably contemporary binding, in full stiff parchment; spine with raised bands and title handwritten in ink “Il Tasso Figurato.” Parchment with natural patina of time, light signs of use and modest superficial alterations; headbands and margins with normal signs of antiquity. Copper-engraved half-title and 20 copper-engraved full-page plates, one at the beginning of each canto. Frontispiece printed in red and black, sheets with browning and physiological foxing. In ancient books with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. Images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 24; 550; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Il Goffredo.
In Padova, 1728. Nella Stamperia del Seminario. Appresso Gio. Manfrè.
Torquato Tasso.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Il Goffredo is one of the historical titles used for La Gerusalemme liberata, the heroic poem with which Tasso transformed the matter of the First Crusade into one of the great poetic constructions of the European Renaissance. Alongside epic and religious dimensions, love, magic, moral conflict, and psychological introspection intertwine, with archetypal characters such as Tancredi, Clorinda, Armida, Rinaldo, and Godfrey of Bouillon. This 1728 edition represents a particularly interesting moment in the book’s editorial fortune: the Tasso text is offered in an elegant portable format but enriched with a true iconographic cycle. The sequence of the twenty engravings, one per canto, turns reading into a visual journey and makes the edition especially sought after in the realm of seventeenth-century illustrated books. The volume also includes important paratextual materials: the Life of the poet derived from Lorenzo Crasso’s Elogi, the Allegory of the poem, and the rooms that Tasso had excluded from the final version. International bibliographic records confirm the 1728 edition’s joint inclusion of the names Tasso, Gian Vincenzo Imperiale, and Lorenzo Crasso.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Torquato Tasso was born in Sorrento in 1544, the son of the poet Bernardo Tasso. After studies in Padua and Bologna, he entered the Este court environment of Ferrara, where a large portion of his literary production matured. In 1573 he composed Aminta, while in the same years he completed the epic poem on the First Crusade destined to become La Gerusalemme liberata. His life was marked by difficult relations with courts, deep personal inquietudes, and a long period spent in the Hospital of Sant’Anna in Ferrara. In later years he continued to obsessively revise his poem, publishing a radical reworking entitled La Gerusalemme conquistata. He died in Rome in 1595, shortly before the anticipated poetic coronation on the Capitol.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
La Gerusalemme liberata had an exceptionally complex editorial history even during the author’s lifetime. Partial and unauthorized versions circulated before the text settled in editions from the early 1580s, giving rise to a long sequence of reprints, commentaries, translations, and illustrated editions. The Padua edition of 1728 occupies a precise position in this tradition. According to the Annals of editions and versions of La Gerusalemme liberata by Guidi, it was the first edition of the poem produced by the Stamperia del Seminario di Padova and was superior to the six subsequent reprints by the same workshop in terms of correctness and quality of the engravings, which were still fresh from the copper plates. The edition was actually reprinted several times by the same workshop: notes include, among others, later Padua editions of 1742 and 1763. The latter retains the same in-12° format, with 550 pages, red and black frontispiece, and twenty plates.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Guidi, Ulisse, Annali delle edizioni e delle versioni della Gerusalemme liberata e d’altri lavori al poema relativi, Bologna, 1868, pp. 37–38.
WorldCat / OCLC 13596047: Il Goffredo; poema eroico del signor Torquato Tasso, Padova, Stamperia del Seminario, appresso G. Manfrè, 1728.
Library of Congress: LCCN 02014757.
Open Library OL6917268M: bibliographic description pp. 23, [1], 550; Vita di Lorenzo Crasso, Allegoria del poema e stanze rifiutate alle pp. 524–550.
ICCU / SBN: Italian national repertories of Torquato Tasso editions and of Stamperia del Seminario di Padova.
CERL Heritage of the Printed Book Database: international repertory of European old editions.
Raccolta Tassiana, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai di Bergamo: essential reference for the bibliographic tradition of Torquato Tasso’s works.
Italian and international antiquarian catalogs: Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli; Studio Bibliografico Benacense; ILAB catalogues; WorldCat.