C. Giudici - La Bottega de’ Chiribizzi - 1685

First Edition

The Bottega de’ Chiribizzi of Doctor Cesare Giudici.

Dedicated to the Illustrissimo Sig. Doctor Advocate Matteo Abbiate Forieri. In Milan, by Ambrogio Ramellati, (1685).

Original Milanese edition of this rare and diverting Baroque collection. Cesare Giudici (1634-1724), physician and man of letters, presents a “shop” of chiribizzi (caprices, ghiribizzi, bizarre and satirical inventions): sonnets, odes, novellas, ridiculous operettas, alphabets in zergo, advice, prognostications and playful pieces on amorous, social and moral subjects. Among the pieces: “Erezione della Bottega,” “Vulcano vendicato. Operetta ridicola,” “La Novelletta,” “L’Alfabeto in Zerco,” odes and sonnets of a light and witty tone, typical of the consumption and amusement literature of Lombard Seicento. The work is dedicated to Matteo Abbiate Forieri, lawyer and Milanese counselor.

Copy in 12° (cm 15 × 10 approximately). Collation: (16), 344, (1) pp. Portrait missing and the leaves A-A3 (as noted). Contemporary parchment bound binding, with manuscript title on the spine (partially legible “Bottega de’ Chiribizzi”) and slight signs of wear.
Internals with the typical browning and usage stains of the era, text readable; woodcut ornaments present (baskets of flowers and fruit, cherubs, heads, peacocks, etc.).

First edition, very rare on the market (a Venetian reprint of 1721 known at Domenico Lovisa). Authentic testimony of Milanese playful and satirical literature of the late Seicento, little present in libraries and private collections. Of notable interest for scholars of baroque literature, satire and seventeenth-century Lombard culture.

Genuine copy, though incomplete in the initial leaves and the portrait, in an antique binding.