Il primo Libro dell'opere burlesche.
Di M. Francesco Berni, di M. Gio. della Casa, del Varchi, del Mauro, di M. Bino, del Molza, del Dolce, & del Firenzuola, ricorretto, & con diligenza ristampato.
- Florence: Bernardo Giunta, 1548
Florence: Bernardo Giunta, 1548. First edition. Octavo (17 cm); [16], 132, [128], 129-293, [2 blank] pages. Unusual collation consisting of numbered pages 1-132, followed by an errata page, followed by unnumbered leaves covering signatures AA through HH (in-8s), resuming numbering with page 129 and continuing through the end of the volume to page 293. In this copy, leaves D3, F7, F8, and G1 appear to have been inserted from a later edition, without interrupting the text. Publisher's "novus exorior" device on title page (Pettas #12). In c18 vellum over boards, with red leather title label stamped in gilt. Old paper repair on title page. Various contempory underlining and marginalia in text, including the identification of anonymous authors. Occasional stains. Even accounting for the inserted leaves, a very good copy of a very hard-to-find book.
References: Gamba, #158 ("Rarissimo"); Pettas, Florence, #280; CNCE 5545; Govi, Classici, #94.
Il primo libro delle opere burlesche (1548) is the foundational printed monument of the Bernesque tradition. The raucous satirist Francesco Berni published little during his lifetime, while his verses circulated in manuscript and enlivened the early sociable culture of academies, taverns, and literary salons. He became the gravitational center of a group of writers who counterposed the somber sobriety of the age with acid satire, mock-heroic inversions, and libertine play. An 18th century historian observed that "by consensus, Berni was the most praiseworthy writer in the genre. His delightful imagination, and the easy and natural elegance of his writing, place him over all of his contemporaries" (Tiraboschi, VII, 1615).
After Berni's death - likely by poison in a Medici intrigue - his friend Antonfrancesco Grazzini ("il Lasca") undertook the task of publishing his scattered compositions. But Grazzini went further: he assembled this anthology as a collective portrait of the entire burlesque movement. Alongside Berni appear works by Giovanni della Casa, Benedetto Varchi, Francesco Mauro, Bino, Molza, Dolce, and Firenzuola, authors later consistently grouped under the rubric "La Bernia." Their poems share a cultivated irreverence and a delight in parody, blending humanist learning with exuberant comic invention.
Predictably, the collection was banned. Surviving 16th century printings are scarce, and this 1548 first edition is the rarest of all, recorded in only a handful of institutional libraries. It is in effect the first attempt to canonize an entire current of Florentine and Roman burlesque writing. Knowing this, we offer our copy even though it has been sophisticated with the insertion of three leaves from a later edition.
References: Gamba, #158 ("Rarissimo"); Pettas, Florence, #280; CNCE 5545; Govi, Classici, #94.
Il primo libro delle opere burlesche (1548) is the foundational printed monument of the Bernesque tradition. The raucous satirist Francesco Berni published little during his lifetime, while his verses circulated in manuscript and enlivened the early sociable culture of academies, taverns, and literary salons. He became the gravitational center of a group of writers who counterposed the somber sobriety of the age with acid satire, mock-heroic inversions, and libertine play. An 18th century historian observed that "by consensus, Berni was the most praiseworthy writer in the genre. His delightful imagination, and the easy and natural elegance of his writing, place him over all of his contemporaries" (Tiraboschi, VII, 1615).
After Berni's death - likely by poison in a Medici intrigue - his friend Antonfrancesco Grazzini ("il Lasca") undertook the task of publishing his scattered compositions. But Grazzini went further: he assembled this anthology as a collective portrait of the entire burlesque movement. Alongside Berni appear works by Giovanni della Casa, Benedetto Varchi, Francesco Mauro, Bino, Molza, Dolce, and Firenzuola, authors later consistently grouped under the rubric "La Bernia." Their poems share a cultivated irreverence and a delight in parody, blending humanist learning with exuberant comic invention.
Predictably, the collection was banned. Surviving 16th century printings are scarce, and this 1548 first edition is the rarest of all, recorded in only a handful of institutional libraries. It is in effect the first attempt to canonize an entire current of Florentine and Roman burlesque writing. Knowing this, we offer our copy even though it has been sophisticated with the insertion of three leaves from a later edition.
Details
Title
Il primo Libro dell'opere burlesche.
Author
Berni, Francesco (1497-1535), Giovannni Mauro, and others; Anton Francesco Grazzini ("il Lasca"), ed.
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
Bernardo Giunta: Florence
Date
1548
Edition
First edition