Storia ed analisi degli antichi romanzi di cavalleria e dei poemi romazeschi d'Italia con dissertazioni sull'origine, sugl'istituti, sulle cerimonie de'cavalieri

Milano: dall Tipografia dell'Autore, 1828. 4 volumes. 8vo. 227 x 150 mm (9 x 6 inches). xvi, 332, [2] pp; 382, [2] pp. viii, 430 [2] pp. vii, [1], 304 pp. Illustrated with 34 aquatint illustrations by Angelo Biasoli, 3 genealogical tables, and illustrations in the text. Uncut copy in original publisher's wrappers; wrapper of volume 4 soiled but otherwise sound and attractive; Text lightly foxed throughout. First edition. Giulio Ferrario, librarian of the Brera in Milan, researched the local collection to produce this work on the history of chivalric literature and its influence on the development of Italian romantic writing in the late Medieval and early Renaissance period. The Appendix which appears in the final volume includes a bibliography of the field by Gaetano Melzi entitled, "Bibliografia dei romanzi e poemi romazeschi d'Italia." This is the first appearance of his bibliography work and is considered the first edition of his full-scale bibliography entitled, Bibliografia dei Romanzi e Poemi Cavallereschi Italiani published in a considerably expanded second edition in 1838. The illustration by Biasoli are after many of the most important artists of the day, including Alessandro Sanquirico and Giuseppe Bramati. Besterman 1324. (69). (Inventory #: 69)