S. Pedro Diego; Lelio de' Manfredi - Carcer d'Amore - 1533

Late 19th-century binding in blue Moroccan leather with a double gold fillet on the covers; title and decorations in gold on the spine, internal dentelles in gold, marbled endpapers.

guard card, 2 white cards, 48, 2 white cards, guard card

Second rare edition of the Bindoni (the first in 1530), a translation of the famous Cárcel de Amor (first edition in Seville in 1492, followed by many others in all languages), known as the 'breviary of courtly love.' In the text, the author is guided by Disio, an official of Eros, living through the worst torments. Leriano, the son of the Duke of Macedonia, is in love with Laureola, the daughter of the King of Gaul. The narrative develops the story of these loves, all unhappy, marked by human cruelty, notions of honor, blindness of passion, and culminating in the final tragedy. Thus, the S. P. has the opportunity to anatomize the loving sentiment in its solitary and unfulfilled aspects, developing a subtle, sharp, almost exasperating psychology of passion; his most direct predecessors are to be found in Boccaccio's Fiammetta, the book that inaugurates the genre.

Frontispiece with title and large woodcut illustration; inside, 19 small delightful woodcut engravings. A copy in excellent condition, with an elegant later binding. Complete and usable.