1564, Venice: FRANCESCO RAMPAZETTO
No listing of 16th-century Dante editions includes this imprint. Its extreme
rarity is due to its odd history, a curiosity in the annals of early Dante
publishing, providing insight into the commercial wiles and ways of the
Venetian press during this period.
In 1564, the printer Francesco Rampazetto had in some way come into possession
of unsold stock of the twenty year-old 1544 Marcolini
edition with the Vellutello commentary. He may have wanted to take advantage
of the same renewed interest in Dante following the Council of Trent which
had stimulated Sessa's entry into the market. In any case, Rampazetto replaced
the Marcolini title page and first folio
with his own
title page, and reset the dedicatory
letter to Pope Paul III and the first page of Vellutello's "Letter
to the readers" which had occupied the second folio of the original.
When he was not recycling old books under new titles, Rampazetto was occupied
with an abundant output of approximately eighty editions between 1553-1576,
including many books of music. He also contracted with the
Sessa to print their 1578 Comedy. Among his printer's marks is
the one displayed here depicting cloud-borne putti garnishing laurel wreaths
with the motto: "Et animo et corpori" (Both for the soul and for
the body).
- Title
Page
- Inferno
Page 1 (woodcut)
- Inferno
Page 1 (text)
- Colophon
- Folios: AAii(r),
AAii(v),
AAiii(r),
AAiii(v),
AAiv(r),
AAiv(v),
AAv(r),
AAv(v),
AAvi(r),
AAvi(v),
AAvii(r),
AAvii(v),
AAviii(r),
AAviii(v),
BBii(v)
