Colonna - Rime della Diva Vittoria Colonna - 1543

RIME OF THE DIVINE VITTORIA COLONNA: RARE VENEZIAN EDITION OF 1543, WITH THE CANTOS
ABSTRACT
Rare sixteenth-century edition of Vittoria Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara, Rime, printed in Venice in 1543 by Bartolomio called l'Imperador and Francesco Vinetiano, his son-in-law. The frontispiece announces the addition of twenty-four spiritual sonnets, the Stanze, and the Triompho della Croce, a religious composition in terza rima inspired by the model of Petrarchan Triumphs. The copy documents one of the early phases of the editorial fortune of Colonna’s Spiritual Rimes, especially significant in the history of Italian religious poetry in the sixteenth century. The collection also presents typographic and compositional features characteristic of the earliest Venetian editions, with italic type and woodcut initials.

REASONS FOR COLLECTING / WHY TO BUY
RARE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ITEM – Venetian edition of 1543, belonging to the first publishing phase of Vittoria Colonna’s Spiritual Rimes and less common than later reprints.
VITTORIA COLONNA – An important testimony to the poetic production of the most celebrated Italian poetess of the Renaissance, a central figure in the literary and religious culture of the sixteenth century.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS – The edition includes the Triompho della Croce, a spiritual composition in terza rima in which the poetess reworks the Petrarchan model in a Christian key.
HISTORY OF VENETIAN EDITING – Printed by Bartolomio called l'Imperador and Francesco Vinetiano his son-in-law, testifies to the activity of one of the Venetian workshops active in disseminating vernacular literature in the sixteenth century.

MARKET VALUE
Rare and sought-after sixteenth-century edition of Vittoria Colonna’s Rime, of particular interest for the presence of the Triompho della Croce and for the early valorization of the poetess’s spiritual production. The commercial value depends significantly on completeness, preservation of the sheets, the quality of the binding, and the presence of any ancient provenance. The value ranges between 100 and 200 euros.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment binding, with signs of use, abrasions, and manuscript marks to the spine and boards. Interior with ornate initials and woodcut decorative elements. The leaves show some physiological browning and reddening, stains and halos of varying intensity, more evident in some sections; also signs of use, annotations, and ancient manuscript marks. In old books, with a multigenerational history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing includes AI Visualizations. Please refer to the original photographs to verify the actual condition of the object. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 106; 2nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Rime de la diva Vettoria Colonna.
In Vinegia, 1543.
Vittoria Colonna.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Vittoria Colonna was one of the most important literary figures of Renaissance Italy, and her poetic production developed a distinctive trajectory toward religious and spiritual themes. The early editions of her Rime were published without direct editorial oversight by the author and were gradually expanded with new spiritual compositions. The Venetian edition of 1543 belongs to this phase of intense typographic fortune and presents, alongside the rhymes, the Stanze and the Triompho della Croce. The latter constitutes one of the most significant examples of transforming the Petrarchan triumph into a poetry of Christian subject matter. The editorial tradition indeed documents a particular attention, in the 1540s, to the spiritual component of the Rime, with the progressive insertion of new sonnets and religious pieces.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Vittoria Colonna was born in 1492 in Marino, belonging to one of the most important Italian aristocratic families. In 1509 she married Fernando Francesco d’Avalos, Marquis of Pescara. After her husband’s death in 1525, she developed a poetic production increasingly oriented toward spiritual and religious themes, and established relationships with important figures of Italian culture in the sixteenth century. She maintained friendships and correspondence with numerous intellectuals and artists of her time. She died in Rome in 1547. Her poetic work contributed decisively to the fortune of Italian female lyric in the Renaissance.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The printed tradition of Vittoria Colonna’s Rime began in 1538 and quickly saw numerous reissues and expansions. A decisive turn was given by the Venetian editions, which progressively increased the spiritual component of the collection. In 1540 Nicolò Zoppino published an edition including twenty-four spiritual sonnets and the Triompho della Croce; this structure was continued and modified in subsequent reprints. The 1543 edition described here belongs to the first generation of prints that systematically disseminated Colonna’s religious production. In 1544 Bartolomio called l'Imperador and Francesco Vinetiano his son-in-law published a new edition with a structure very close to this one, today described in catalogs as 53 pages plus 3 preliminary/final pages, in octavo format.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / SBN; EDIT16, catalogues of sixteenth-century Italian editions; USTC, Universal Short Title Catalogue; CERL, Heritage of the Printed Book Database; WorldCat; BM STC Italian Books 1465-1600; A. Bullock, studies on the printed tradition of Vittoria Colonna’s Rime; Muriel M. S. Barbero, “Vittoria Colonna ‘dedicata’”, Margini, 13 (2019); Ester Pietrobon, studies on the sixteenth-century fortune of the Trionfi and on Vittoria Colonna’s Triompho della Croce. Bibliographic sources confirm the role of the Venetian editions of the 1540s in the progressive valorization of the poetess’s spiritual production.