DANTE ALIGHIERI.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

La Divina Commedia. First edition thus of Razzolini's finely illustrated Commedia, reproduced from the original manuscript and printed in the form of coloured postcards. Razzolini's spectacular work has been described as "a particularly sumptuous production, and an interesting example of modern illumination" (Speight, p. 178).Attilio Razzolini was a leading Italian illuminator active at the turn of the 20th century. Around 1902, he produced an illustrated manuscript of the Commedia – now held at the John Rylands Library in Manchester – composed of 104 vellum leaves mounted on cardboard, each containing a section of the text. Razzolini drew the ornate capitals and borders, and worked in collaboration with several young Florentine artists (J. Olivotto, A. Alessandrelli, S. Bicchi, V. Pochini and G. Tetti) who painted the numerous miniatures. The text, written in a 15th-century Gothic style, was transcribed from the "antica vulgata" of the Commedia, that is the original version appearing in the early manuscripts. In 1902, Razzolini's manuscript was reproduced in Milan as a series of double postcards, which were sold individually as souvenirs, and are sometimes found bound together as in the present copy, as a stunning "postcard edition". The composition of bound copies vary, some featuring additional full-page illustrations for the general and part-titles.

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