1476: NOT IN GERMAN LIBRARIES, 4 COPIES KNOWN by Piccolomini, Enea Silvio (formerly Pope Pius II) - 1476-77: THE LOVE STORY BETWEEN EURYALO AND LUCRETIA

Piccolomini, Enea Silvio (formerly Pope Pius II). De duobus amantibus Euryalo et Lucretia. [Florence: Nicolaus Laurentii, Alamanus, 1476-77].

4to, 20th century amateur full calf signed by Perticaroli (Rome) with blind- and gilt-tooled decorations on both covers, three raised bands spine with gilt-lettered title to spine, ff. [59 out of 60, wanting the title leaf (since 16th century, see provenance)]. Text in Italian (translated by Alessandro Braccio), printed in Roman type, 27 lines. Signatures: a-g8 h4.

Extremely rare edition of the most famous erotic novel of the early Italian Renaissance, one of the first books published by the German printer Nikolaus Lorenz.

The Historia de duobus amantibus ("Tale of Two Lovers") was written in 1444 by Aenea Silvio Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II and it was one of the bestselling books of the fifteenth century, first published in Cologne between 1467 and 1470 by Ulrich Zell. It is one of the earliest examples of an epistolary novel, full of erotic imagery. The novel is set in Siena, and centres around the love story of Lucretia, a married woman, and Euryalo, one of the men waiting on the Duke of Austria. After an uncertain beginning, in which each is in love but unaware that it is reciprocated, they begin a correspondence, which takes up much of the rest of the novel.

Nikolaus Lorenz (fl. 1475-1486), latinized in Nicolaus Laurentii, also known as Niccolò di Lorenzo or Niccolò Todesco ("Nicholas the German") was a printer from Breslau and one of the most distinguished of the early Florentine printers, published approximately 46 editions between 1475 or late 1474 and 1486. These included the three earliest Florentine illustrated books, all among the first Italian books illustrated with engravings. The second of these, the first illustrated edition of Dante (1481), was planned as a spectacular typographical and visual homage to the poet, but the ambitious project was never realized. Of the intended 100 engraved headpiece illustrations after Botticelli only 19 were completed, and only the first two and occasionally the third (or in some copies a repetition of the second engraving) were printed as planned as an integral part of the text. The remaining 16 or 17 engravings were printed separately and pasted in to the appropriate spaces in a minority of copies.

References: Not in BSB-Ink, no copies in France, Germany, Spain. IGI VI 7812-A; GW M33569 (dated the edition 1476-77); BMC XII 45; Goff P687; Catalogo Martini, (C) 288. KLL: "[De duobus amantis gehört zu den] Perlen der erotischen Novellenliteratur [...] Klassisch in ihrem Aufbau, vor den Höhepunkten jeweils durch verzögernde Momente geschickt unterbrochen, verdankt die Novelle ihre formale Meisterschaft vornehmlich zwei Anregungen: der Kunst Boccaccios und der antiken Typenkomödie".

ISTC ip00687000 (dates the edition about 1485).

Census (4): USA (2): Clinton NY, Hamilton College Library; New York, The Morgan Library and Museum. Italy (1): Trieste C. British Isles (1): London, British Library (IA.27103) (Acquisition 1958 from Chatsworth).