Beschreibung:

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni (1313-1375). [ De casibus illustrium virorum ]. The tragedies, gathered by Jhon Bochas, of all such Princes as fell from theyr estates throughe the mutability of Fortune since the creation of Adam, until his time: wherin may be seen what vices bring menne to destruction, wyth notable warninges howe the like may be avoyded. Translated from Italian into English by John Lydgate. London: John Wayland, [ca 1554].
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni (1313-1375). [ De casibus illustrium virorum ]. The tragedies, gathered by Jhon Bochas, of all such Princes as fell from theyr estates throughe the mutability of Fortune since the creation of Adam, until his time: wherin may be seen what vices bring menne to destruction, wyth notable warninges howe the like may be avoyded. Translated from Italian into English by John Lydgate. London: John Wayland, [ca 1554]. 2 o in sixes (318 x 216 mm). Gothic type in double columns. Woodcut title border, the top compartment with the Royal Arms, termini at sides, and below a tablet representing one boy waking another with the motto "Arise for it is day" (McKerrow & Ferguson 76a). Woodcut of Adam and Eve, flanked by terminal side-pieces, on A4 recto. Woodcut historiated and floral initials. (Title with small closed tear near gutter, upper corner of A4 renewed affecting final period in the headline, rust-holes occasionally catching a few letters on B5, F5, G6, printer's error on &1 affecting final word in one line of heading, some minor marginal worming or small repairs at end.) 19th-century brown morocco gilt, edges gilt, by F. Bedford (spine lightly faded, hinges slightly rubbed) Provenance : Sir Edward Sullivan (1822-1885), Lord Chancellor of Ireland ("Through life he was an ardent book-collector, and at his death had amassed one of the most valuable private libraries in the kingdom" DNB ); Robert Hoe, sold Anderson Auction Company, New York, 9 January 1912, lot 473 (describing Sullivan's bookplate, now removed); purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, New York, 1 October 1969. Third or fourth edition of Lydgate's translation of Boccaccio's De casibus illustrium virorum, the first and second having been printed by Richard Pynson in 1494 and 1527; here without G4 title to Baldwin's A Memorial of such Princes found in some copies. Richard Tottell printed an edition in 1554, and there were two issues of Wayland's edition probably in the same year. Lydgate repeatedly described himself as Chaucer's disciple, and for two centuries after his death was assigned a place in English literature little below Chaucer or Gower. He used a smaller proportion of obsolete words, and is certainly more intelligible to the modern reader. But he was no classicist, and his 36,000 line translation depended on the French translation of Laurent de Premier fait. From the title-page found at the end of some copies, it seems evident that Wayland intended to add William Baldwin's A Memorial of such Princes to this edition. However, as Baldwin himself relates, the printing of this work, which eventually appeared in 1559 as A Myrroure for Magistrates , was suppressed (see the "Brief Memorial," recto A-A2 of the 1559 first edition). The woodcut on A4 recto shows scenes from Genesis 1-3, the creation of Eve, the temptation, and the expulsion from the garden. Jackson notes that the terminal side-pieces to this illustration "formerly belonged to Berthelet and passed from him to Powell who used them in 1556 on the title of Heywood's Spider and Flie ." Pforzheimer 73; STC 3178.