LA GERUSALEMME LIBERATA DI TORQUATO TASSO.

Paris: Agostino Delalain, etc., 1771. 2 volumes. First Delalain edition, the rare LARGE PAPER COPY on papier de Hollande. The true first of the edition with the portraits in Italian rather than French. Superbly illustrated with very fine 20 finely engraved full page plates throughout and with very finely engraved full-page frontispieces of Tasso and Gravelot and engraved title pages in each volume, copiously adorned throughout with beautiful engravings including 9 full page culs-de-lame, 20 portrait vignette headpieces and 14 cul-de-lampe tailpieces by Gravelot. The “Argomentos” set in italics. 4to, in fine full mottled calf bindings of the period, the covers with triple gilt fillet borders and finely gilt turnovers, the mottling in red and green, the spineswith elaborate gilt panel designs incorporating a urn device at the centers, raised bands decorated in gilt, red and green morocco lettering labels gilt, the latter with number label inlaid with red morocco, a.e.g. (4 ff), 331; (3ff), 340. A very handsome copy in beautifully executed bindings, crisp, clean, unwashed and unpressed internally, the bindings a bit rubbed in some places, joint of one volume unobtrusively cracked, the cords, hinges and sewing all still strong. A very wide margined copy in a lovely contemporary binding. A RARE QUARTO LARGE PAPER COPY, AND AN IMPORTANT AND VERY BEAUTIFUL EDITION OF THIS CORNERSTONE CLASSIC OF ITALIAN LITERATURE. The edition has long been considered one of the richest and most magnificent of the many editions of Tasso printed over the centuries. It is the rare large paper copy on papier de Hollande and is beautifully printed with very fine impresions of all the plates. Perhaps the finest of the classic illustrated editions of the 18th century; Brunet states, “Assez belle édition. “The illustrator Hubert Gravelot studied under Boucher in Paris and later was Gainsborough’s master in London. He at one time or another illustrated almost all the important books published in his day, this particular title being a noted success.
Provenance: Very finely engraved period pictorial ownership labels at the pastedowns.