Luigi Pulci - Il Morgante Maggiore - 1732

IL CAPOLAVORO CAVALLERESCO DI LUIGI PULCI NELLA PRESTIGIOSA EDIZIONE FIORENTINA DEL 1732
Fiorentina edition of 1732 of the renowned Morgante Maggiore by Luigi Pulci, one of the most important eighteenth-century reprints of the great chivalric poem composed in the second half of the fifteenth century. Elegant in typography and enhanced by the magnificent copper-engraved portrait of the author in the frontispiece and by the frontispiece printed in red and black, this edition testifies to the Enlightenment rediscovery of the great classics of Italian literature. Pulci’s poem constitutes one of the foundations of Renaissance chivalric narrative, an ideal bridge between medieval cantari and the masterpieces of Boiardo and Ariosto. A copy preserved in its authentic contemporaneous binding in parchment, typical of Italian libraries of the eighteenth century.
WHY TO BUY
• Complete with the beautiful copper-engraved frontispiece with Luigi Pulci’s portrait.
• Fundamental work of Renaissance Italian literature.
• Edition highly sought after by international collectors.

MARKET VALUE
The best copies of the 1732 Florentine edition of Morgante Maggiore are consistently in demand on the international antique market. Complete copies with the frontispiece, well preserved and in contemporaneous binding generally fetch prices between 1,000 and 2,500 euros, with higher values for particularly fresh copies, of significant provenance or preserved in exceptional condition.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Quarto volume. Contemporary parchment soft binding with manuscript title on the spine and original running stitches still visible. Normal signs of age, slight abrasions and a notable loss on the spine, perfectly compatible with an eighteenth-century binding. Copper-engraved frontispiece with Luigi Pulci’s portrait. Typographic frontispiece in red and black. Overall fresh paper with mild browning at margins and sporadic foxing. Wide margins. Genuine, structurally sound and very pleasant copy.
Pages 484.
Final index leaves. Text laid out in two columns. Initials and woodcut borders.
In old books with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Luigi Pulci.
Il Morgante Maggiore di Messer Luigi Pulci Fiorentino.
Firenze, MDCCXXXII (1732).

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Composed in Renaissance Florence of the late fifteenth century, Morgante Maggiore represents one of the most original and influential works of Italian literature. Luigi Pulci transforms the traditional Carolingian cycle into a poem astonishingly modern, where epic poetry coexists with satire, the humorous with the tragic, humanistic culture with popular language. The gigantic Morgante, converted by Orlando to Christian faith, becomes the symbol of a narrative universe that is free and unpredictable, where the taste for the marvelous accompanies inexhaustible irony. The work exerted a decisive influence on Matteo Maria Boiardo and especially on Ludovico Ariosto, opening the path to the great era of Renaissance chivalric poetry. The 1732 edition testifies to the renewed eighteenth-century interest in Italian classics and constitutes one of the most elegant typographic realizations dedicated to the pulcian masterpiece.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Luigi Pulci (1432-1484) was one of the greatest poets of Medicean Florence and a protagonist of the brilliant cultural season promoted by Lorenzo the Magnificent. Endowed with a highly personal style, he united medieval chivalric tradition with humanistic culture, introducing in the epic poem an ironic and realistic vein previously unknown. Morgante Maggiore remains his absolute masterpiece and one of the most important works of Renaissance European literature.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Since the fourteenth-century princeps, Morgante Maggiore enjoyed very wide editorial diffusion. The Florentine edition of 1732 belongs to the era of great reissues of Italian classics promoted in the eighteenth century, when there was a felt need to return to the public the fundamental works of the national literary tradition through elegant typographical editions. Thanks to the quality of printing, the presence of the engraved portrait, and the careful layout, this edition is today one of the most appreciated by collectors and scholars of Renaissance literature.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Gamba, Serie dei Testi di Lingua.
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres.
Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux.
Melzi, Dizionario di Opere Anonime e Pseudonime.
ICCU – Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale.
WorldCat – OCLC.
Sander, Le Livre à Figures Italien.
ISTC / USTC (tradizione bibliografica delle edizioni antiche del Morgante).