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One of the most beautiful pieces of italic typography produced in Italy in the 16th century
TRISSINO, Giovanni Giorgio.Epistola de le lettere nuovamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana.    (Vicenza, Tolomeo Januculo, 1529). Small folio. Modern calf, spine ribbed, blind tooled fillet borders on sides. Woodcut printer's device on title. 18 (last blank) leaves. Second edition of Trissino's proposal for orthographic reform and one of the most beautiful examples of 16th century Italian typographical craftsmanship. Trissino was one of the central figures in the battle over linguistic reform, the "questione della lingua", that took place in Italy during the 1520s and 1530s. Trissino's Epistola were addressed to Pope Clement VII and he proposes in them the introduction of new letters into alphabet to represent sounds in the Italian language which were undistinguished in the present alphabet. Two of those new letters were å and ù for open e and o. In Trissino's text is made use of those 2 new letters. The first edition appeared in 1524 and was printed by the famous Lodovico degli Arrighi, calligrapher and printer who designed his own types. Trissino praises him for his skills that can make a printed page almost look like a manuscript page. Arrighi added the 2 new characters proposed by Trissino to his type. After the sack of Rome in 1527 nothing is heard anymore from Arrighi and Trissino had to find another printer for the new editions of his works. It is said that Trissino supplied Tolomeo Janiculo with the matrices of Arrighi's type, including the new letters and that Janiculo printed in 1529 the second edition of this work. The device on the title-page tells us they had a good relationship as it bears the initials of Janiculo and the personal emblem of Trissino: the Golden Fleece. Trissino (1478-1550) was a humanist poet known for blank verse and his interest in spelling. He argued for distinguishing i from j, and u from v, an obvious point for us now but an innovation in his day. As said before he also argued for the addition of certain Greek letters to the Italian alphabet; although these were used in editions of Trissino's essays in his lifetime, the suggestion did not stick. Beautiful copy with bookplate of W.R.H. Jeudwine.
Mortimer, Harvard Italian, 507; Gamba 1703.
Related Subjects: 16th Century Linguistics Literary History Printing Typography Add to Shopping cart |
€ 8.500,00
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All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included.
Free shipping for orders over € 2,500. EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.
Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale
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