BOCCACCIO, Giovanni.

£750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Il Philocolo. An early edition of the first adventure novel of Italian literature in vernacular prose. Written by the author during his student years in Naples, this was Boccaccio's first important work, a retelling of the popular medieval French romance of Floire and Blancheflor."Boccaccio demonstrated a vast knowledge of literature, classical and medieval, and a personal engagement with it, giving a strong indication of literary promise and of the masterpieces to come... Boccaccio enlarges and ornaments the story with Florio's travels throughout Italy and the Mediterranean, adding digressions, geographical, historical, and mythological, at each stop and each new encounter; he weaves into the story autobiographical allegories, exotic places, and even a lesson in church history and doctrine" (Weaver, p. 87).The Filocolo was published in 1472. This is one of two Venetian editions printed in 1530, the other by Francesco di Alessandro Bindoni, both reproducing the text as edited and published by Marco Guazzo in 1527.

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