Le Commedie Del Dottore Carlo Goldoni Avvocato Veneziano Fra Gli Arcadi Polisseno Fegejo Prima Edizione Fiorentina Dell’ Autore correta, riveduta, ed ampliata.

GOLDONI, Carlo.

$2,800.00

Item Number: 129344

Firenze: Eredi Paperini, 1753-1755.

First corrected Florentine edition of Goldoni’s comedic works. Octavo, 12 volumes, bound in full vellum, frontispiece portrait of Goldoni by Pitteri after Piazetta. In good condition. Armorial bookplates and ownership inscription. A rare set published during Goldoni’s lifetime.

Goldoni entered the Italian theatre scene with a tragedy, Amalasunta, produced in Milan. The play was a critical and financial failure and after several other unsuccessful attempts at tragedy, he turned to comedy. In his Memoirs, Goldoni amply discusses the state of Italian comedy when he began writing. At that time, Italian comedy revolved around the conventionality of the Commedia dell'arte, or improvised comedy. Goldoni took to himself the task of superseding the comedy of masks and the comedy of intrigue by representations of actual life and manners through the characters and their behaviors. He rightly maintained that Italian life and manners were susceptible of artistic treatment such as had not been given them before. His works are a lasting monument to the changes that he initiated: a dramatic revolution that had been attempted but not achieved before.