Del Decamerone.

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni.

$750.00

Item Number: 146354

Tuscany: Giovanni Ghiara, 1770.

Finely bound edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece. Octavo, five volumes, original full contemporary vellum with morocco labels and gilt titles to the spine, patterned endpapers, all edges marbled, original emerald silk ribbons, frontispiece portrait of Boccaccio to Vol. I. In very good condition to near fine condition with some toning to the boards, a closed tear to the front panel and half title page of Vol. I, light toning to the front and rear flyleaf of each volume, and a slight lean to Vol. V.

The Decameron is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived the Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales), it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.