Storia ed analisi degli antichi romanzi di cavalleria e dei poemi romazeschi d'Italia con dissertazioni sull'origine, sugl'istituti, sulle cerimonie de'cavalieri

4 volumes. 8vo. 227 x 150 mm (9 x 6 inches). xvi, 332, [2] pp; 382, [2] pp. viii, 430 [2] pp. vii, [1], 304 pp. Illustrated with 34 aquatint illustrations by Angelo Biasoli, 3 genealogical tables, and illustrations in the text.  Uncut copy in original publisher's wrappers; wrappers of volume 4 soiled but otherwise sound and attractive; Text lightly foxed throughout.

 First edition. Giulio Ferrario (1767-1847) was librarian, bibliographer, and historian of the Biblioteca Braidenese  in Milan, who wrote numerous monographs on various subjects including Dante , Boccaccio, and general works on Italian drama, poetry, and literature.  Using the collections in the Brera Library he produced this work on the history of chivalric literature and its influence on the development of Italian romantic writing in the late Medieval and early Renaissance period.   He was the founder of the Societa Tipograpfica de Classici Italiani, a publishing venture that brought out inexpensive yet nicely produced editions of the classics, for a developing reading public. 

 The "Appendix" which appears in the final volume includes a bibliography of the field by Gaetano Melzi entitled, "Bibliografia dei romanzi e poemi romazeschi d'Italia."  This is the first appearance of Melzi's bibliography work and is considered the first edition of his full-scale bibliography entitled, Bibliografia dei Romanzi e Poemi Cavallereschi Italiani (see below) published in a considerably expanded second edition in 1838.

This edition is very nice illustrated with 34 aquatint plates, printed by Biasoli are after many of the most important artists of the day, including Alessandro Sanquirico and Giuseppe Bramati.

 Besterman, World Bibliography of Bibliographies, I 1324.  See Gamba, Serie dei Testi di Lingua Italiana for a list of Ferrario's works.  (69)