La Divina Commedia or The Divine Vision of Dante Alighieri In Italian and English. -
Dante Alighieri, Henry F. Cary (translator), Sandro Boticelli (illustrator)
1928 - The Nonesuch Press, London - First Nonesuch Edition. Limited to 1475 copies of which this is number 402.
‘Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, where the right of way was lost.’ – Hell.
‘To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now hoists her sails, as she leaves behind her a sea so cruel.’ – Purgatory.
‘In the heaven which most of His light I have been, and have seen things which he who descends from there above neither knows how nor has power to recount.’ – Paradise.
A gorgeous large limited edition of this medieval epic, combining Botticelli’s 42 sepia drawings (34 on double sheet, 8 on single sheet) with Dante’s Divina Commedia in both Italian and English. Showing only a modicum of the usual spine fading to which this vellum is notoriously prone, in a matching cloth and marbled paper lined slipcase.
Reportedly based on Dante’s experiences during his banishment from Florence, this reinterpretation of Christian themes had a seminal influence on philosophy, literature, and art, inspiring Chaucer, John Milton, Salvadore Dali, and T.S. Eliot, among many others.
‘Dante and Botticelli represented the Florence of two very different generations. No Renaissance artist contemplated the verities of Christianity with a deeper faith. Botticelli’s drawings are so much more than a commentary on, or a two-dimensional summation of, the Divina Commedia. They are breathtakingly beautiful. And in realising his project, Botticelli refined his own mysticisim and thus anticipated the intense lyricism of his final years’ – Francis Russell on the 2001 Botticelli exhibition at the Royal Academy (Country Life). Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia.
Sandro Boticelli (1445-1510): One of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance, his The Birth of Venus and Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.
References: Encyclopedia Britannica. Dreyfus, The History of the Nonesuch Press, 50.
Quarto (binding size 31.7x21.5cm), pp. [8] 325 [3]. Finely bound in publisher’s orange stained vellum, with double fillet boarder in gilt to front board, stamped in gilt to front and rear boards, spine lettered and stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges uncut. In custom orange cloth slipcase, lined in marbled paper. Condition: Fine in near fine binding with just a hint of toning to the spine, light soiling to edges of slipcase. Ref: 112456 Price: HK$ 20,000
‘To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now hoists her sails, as she leaves behind her a sea so cruel.’ – Purgatory.
‘In the heaven which most of His light I have been, and have seen things which he who descends from there above neither knows how nor has power to recount.’ – Paradise.
A gorgeous large limited edition of this medieval epic, combining Botticelli’s 42 sepia drawings (34 on double sheet, 8 on single sheet) with Dante’s Divina Commedia in both Italian and English. Showing only a modicum of the usual spine fading to which this vellum is notoriously prone, in a matching cloth and marbled paper lined slipcase.
Reportedly based on Dante’s experiences during his banishment from Florence, this reinterpretation of Christian themes had a seminal influence on philosophy, literature, and art, inspiring Chaucer, John Milton, Salvadore Dali, and T.S. Eliot, among many others.
‘Dante and Botticelli represented the Florence of two very different generations. No Renaissance artist contemplated the verities of Christianity with a deeper faith. Botticelli’s drawings are so much more than a commentary on, or a two-dimensional summation of, the Divina Commedia. They are breathtakingly beautiful. And in realising his project, Botticelli refined his own mysticisim and thus anticipated the intense lyricism of his final years’ – Francis Russell on the 2001 Botticelli exhibition at the Royal Academy (Country Life). Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia.
Sandro Boticelli (1445-1510): One of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance, his The Birth of Venus and Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.
References: Encyclopedia Britannica. Dreyfus, The History of the Nonesuch Press, 50.
Quarto (binding size 31.7x21.5cm), pp. [8] 325 [3]. Finely bound in publisher’s orange stained vellum, with double fillet boarder in gilt to front board, stamped in gilt to front and rear boards, spine lettered and stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges uncut. In custom orange cloth slipcase, lined in marbled paper. Condition: Fine in near fine binding with just a hint of toning to the spine, light soiling to edges of slipcase. Ref: 112456 Price: HK$ 20,000