Celestina tragicocomedia [sic!] di Calisto e Melibea nuovamente tradotta de spagnolo in italiano idioma

8vo (139x99 mm). CXIX, [1 blank] leaves. Signatures: A-P8. With a large woodcut on the title page and 16 smaller vignettes in text (one repeated). Italic type. Later light brown/green morocco, richly gilt spine with five raised bands, panels within a triple gilt fillet, gilt edges. On the front pastedown the stamp of Lauria, Paris. Bottom of title page and following leaf slightly stained, small loss of paper in the lower outer corner of l. LXXII not affecting the text. A very good copy.

EARLY VENETIAN EDITION of one of the great works of Spanish literature in its Italian version by Alfonso Ordoñez who dedicates his translation to Madonna Feltria da Campofregoso. The Comedia de Calisto y Melibea of Fernando de Rojas, also known as Celestina, after the character of the same name, was first printed in Burgos in 1499. The first Italian edition was issued in Rome in 1506 and reprinted several times during the 16th century. The title woodcut, showing the main characters of the dialogues, had previously been used in the Stefano Nicolini da Sabio editions and derives from the first octavo edition (Seville [i.e. Venice], May 1523). 11 of the 16 illustrations are formed from the varying rearrangements of five small distinct blocks, each of which portrays either a human figure or a landscape feature.