[o sia] La Liberazione di Vienna Assediata dalle Armi Ottomane Poemetto Giocoso e La Banzuola.
8vo. engraved frontispiece, (4) ff., 248 pp., 12 full-page engraved plates, of which 1 is signed Cantarelli, 2 signed with his monogram. Bound in contemporary half calf and marbled paper over boards.
Very rare illustrated edition (second; first c. 1685) of this poem on the siege of Vienna, along with Dialogues between Men and Women on daily life (La Banzuola). The two compositions form the most extensive and most philologically genuine literary compositions in Bolognese dialect. First published c. 1685 with six plates by G.G. Cosattini, the present edition has twice the number of plates as the first, three of which are signed by the Bolognese engraver Giuseppe Cantarelli. As the style of the remainder is homogenous, he most likely did those as well, rendering Bologna the most likely place of printing (though some records read Parma, probably influenced by the first edition). The plates relating to the second work are of interest for picturing a number of scenes which show 18th-century Bologna-treet scenes, interiors or costumes.
In five cantos, the text concerns Suleiman the Magnificent's failed attempt to sack Vienna in 1529, this was the westernmost incursion of the Ottoman power, and was considered a conflict of Manichaean proportions by the European powers. The occasion for the present poem was doubtless the recent Battle of Vienna of 1683, when the Turks suffered a similar defeat. The second work consists of didactic dialogues (Misery enjoins a good wife to save money for a rainy day, as husbands often go to ruin), which are largely an excuse to collect and employ Bolognese proverbs
For the first edition, which it mistakenly dates to 1690, OCLC lists Berkeley, Yale, the Newberry and Harvard (Harvard and BL records date the edition to 1685). For the present edition, OCLC lists Georgetown and Tennessee; we have also located a copy at Harvard.
* * Hollis record s.v. Lotti [1750?]; Thieme Becker, ‘Cantarelli, Giuseppe’; Bénézit II.500; Incisioni Bolognese ‘700 #217 (print).
Price: $650.00