La Divina Commedia. Or, The Divine Vision. In Italian and English. The Italian Text Edited by Mario Casella of the University of Florence with the English version of H. F. Cary and 42 Illustrations after the Drawings by Sandro Botticelli.

NONESUCH PRESS: DANTE ALIGHIERI.

Edité par London: The Nonesuch Press, 1928

A propos de cet article

First Nonesuch edition, number 1,280 of 1,475 copies only, from the library of Eva le Gallienne (1899-1991), the actor, director and translator, with her bookplate and small annotations. This finely bound and designed edition prints Dante's Italian parallel to Cary's English translation. It is illustrated after the Sandro Botticelli drawings that were used in the first Florentine edition of 1481. Rev. Henry Francis Cary's translation first appeared in 1814 and was praised by many, including by Coleridge during a lecture at the Royal Institution. The Italian text is from the philologist Mario Casella's authoritative edition of 1925, which contained numerous printer's errors that Casella corrected specially for this Nonesuch publication. Le Gallienne begun her career as an actor on Broadway. However, she grew dissatisfied with commercial theatre, and in 1926 she founded the nonprofit Civic Repertory Theatre, which "formed the philosophical bedrock for off-Broadway and the nonprofit resident theater movement" (ADNB). She was also instrumental in bringing European playwrights, such as Chekov and Ibsen, to American theatres, and she regularly produced and published her own translations. Later in life, she took on roles in film and television, for which she won an Emmy and was nominated for an Academy Award. Dreyfus 50; Ransom, p. 367. Folio. With 34 double- and 8 single-page sepia collotype plates after Botticelli. Text printed in double columns on Dutch handmade paper using Blado italic type, with Poliphilus roman capitals used at the start of each line in the 16th-century Venetian manner. Original orange vellum, spine lettered and stamped with arabesque device in gilt, gilt twin fillet bordering covers and enclosing elaborate oval centrepiece with the initial "D", edges untrimmed, top edge gilt-on-the-rough. Bookseller's ticket on front pastedown. Spine lightly sunned, ends and corners rubbed, front cover bowed, outer leaves foxed and offset but contents clean: a very good, bright copy.

N° de réf. du vendeur 178507

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: La Divina Commedia. Or, The Divine Vision. In Italian and English. The Italian Text Edited by Mario Casella of the University of Florence with the English version of H. F. Cary and 42 Illustrations after the Drawings by Sandro Botticelli.
• Éditeur: London: The Nonesuch Press, 1928
• Édition: Edition originale