Tasso - Il Goffredo Figurato - 1728

FIGURATIVE TASSO: THE FIRST PADUA SEMINARY EDITION OF THE 1728 SEMINAR, WITH 20 ENGRAVINGS
Elegant eighteenth-century illustrated edition of Torquato Tasso's masterwork, published in Padua in 1728.
The frontispiece 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 Poet’s Life drawn from Lorenzo Crasso’s Eulogies and the Allegory of the poem.
First edition of Il Goffredo issued from the famous Stamperia del Seminario di Padova, particularly valued for typographic accuracy and freshness of the engravings.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST PADUA SEMINARY EDITION – It is the first edition of the poem produced by the renowned Stamperia del Seminario di Padova; Guidi regards it as the most beautiful and correct of the subsequent reissues 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 specifically to accompany the poem.
RED AND BLACK TITLE PAGE – The refined bi-color frontispiece in red and black substantially enhances the collectible character of the edition.
CONTEMPORARY VELLUM – The specimen preserves an evocative ancient full parchment binding with manuscript title on the spine “Il Tasso Figurato,” particularly coherent with the illustrated nature of the volume.

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

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Ancient binding, presumably contemporaneous, in full stiff parchment; spine with raised bands and manuscript title 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 illustrated half-title and 20 copper plates engraved on copper, one at the beginning of each canto. Frontispiece printed in red and black, sheets with browning and physiological foxing. In old books with a long history there may be some imperfections, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The 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 Gerusalemme liberata, the epic poem with which Tasso transformed the matter of the First Crusade into one of the great architectural works of European Renaissance literature. Alongside the epic and religious dimensions, love, magic, moral conflict, and psychological introspection coexist, with archetypal characters such as Tancredi, Clorinda, Armida, Rinaldo, and Goffredo di Buglione. This 1728 edition represents a particularly interesting moment in the book’s editorial fortune: the Tasso text is offered in an elegant portable format yet enriched by a true iconographic cycle. The sequence of the twenty engravings, one for each canto, turns reading into a visual journey and makes the edition especially sought after within eighteenth-century illustrated books. The volume also includes important paratextual materials: the Poet’s Life derived from Lorenzo Crasso’s Eulogies, the Allegory of the poem, and the stanzas that Tasso had excluded from the definitive edition. International bibliographic records confirm the 1728 edition’s joint inclusion of the names of Tasso, Gian Vincenzo Imperiale, and Lorenzo Crasso.

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

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
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 reissues, commentaries, translations, and illustrated editions. The Padua edition of 1728 holds a specific position in this tradition. According to Guidi’s Annals of Editions and Versions of Gerusalemme liberata and related works, it was the first edition of the poem produced by Stamperia del Seminario di Padova and was superior to the six subsequent reissues by the same printer in terms of correctness and the quality of the engravings, then still fresh from the copper plates. The edition was actually reprinted several times by the same workshop: notable later Padua issues include those from 1742 and 1763. The latter repeats the same in-12° structure, 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: national Italian catalogues of Torquato Tasso editions and Stamperia del Seminario di Padova.
CERL Heritage of the Printed Book Database: international index of early European editions.
Raccolta Tassiana, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai of Bergamo: essential reference for the bibliographic tradition of Torquato Tasso’s works.
Italian and international antiquarian catalogues: Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli; Studio Bibliografico Benacense; ILAB catalogues; WorldCat.