Torquato TASSO - La Gerusalemme liberata- magnificently illustrated - 1628

(LITERATURE; ILLUSTRATED; FINE BINDINGS) Torquato TASSO (1544-1595)
La Gerusalemme liberata di Torquato Tasso Con la Vita di lui, Con gli Argomenti à ciascun Canto di Bartolomeo Barbato con le Annotazioni di Scipio Gentile, e di Giulio Guastavino, & con le Notizie historiche di Lorenzo Pignoria. In Padova, per Pietro Paolo Tozzi, 1628
§ 4to (225x162); [16], 408 pp. Woodcut title page, portrait and 20 full-page plates, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. XVIII century red morocco, covers and spine gilt, marbled edges. A few pages a little short-cut un the upper margin. Beautiful copy on crisp paper, engraving in strong impression , with a fascinating ancient binding.
Illustrated edition of the famous poem by Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581. The editor of this edition, Lorenzo Pignoria (1571-1631) was an Italian historian, antiquarian, archaeologist and priest. “The printer deservedly dedicates this valuable edition to Cav. Co. Zaratino Castellini, counting among his other merits that of having had the good fortune to know our Poet. ... The biography written by Barbato, although very brief, is nevertheless very interesting and contains some information that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Above all, the text is extremely accurate, having been edited by the famous Lorenzo Pignoria, who was one of Tasso's most passionate scholars and admirers. There is a portrait of the Poet, with figures in each Canto, carved in wood, but in a beautiful and grand manner: very rare.” (Guidi, translated).
 ULISSE GUIDI, Annali delle edizioni e delle versioni della Gerusalemme Liberata Bologna, 1868, p. 24; PIERANTONIO SERASSI La vita di Torquato Tasso Bergamo, Locatelli, 1790, p. XXV; GRAESSE, VI(II) p, 33; MAURIZIO BUORA, Pignoria, Lorenzo In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani