La Georgica di Virgilio Virgil (Virgilio, Vergilio)

La Georgica di Virgilio Translated by Bernardino Daniello. Commentary by Bernardino Daniello. ***RARE copy. About a dozen institutional holdings. Not listed for sale anywhere. Textually complete. Missing some blank flyleaves. *** RECENT PROVENANCE: From the Virgil Collection of Craig Kallendorf (1954 - 2023), who owned the largest private collection of antiquarian Virgil works (1,150 editions, not including Incunable books) in the world. Only a handful of prominent institutions like the British Library had larger collections. Eighth-nine of the books in his collection were the only known surviving copies, 71 only had one other known copy. He worked closely with Princeton University in helping to assemble, supplement and catalog its Junius Spencer Morgan Virgil collection. Craig Kallendorf was Professor of English and Classics at Texas A&M University. He was the author or editor of 27 books and more than 170 articles, book chapters, and reference work entries. Among Kallendorf's groundbreaking monographs on the Virgilian tradition, special note might be made of his Virgil and the Myth of Venice: Books and Readers in the Italian Renaissance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), which shows how the wide reading of the Aeneid, accessed in both Latin and Italian editions, contributed to Venetian ideology and the so-called "myth of Venice." With its publication, according to reviewer Diana Robin (Renaissance Quarterly, 55.4 [2002], p. 1394), Kallendorf is to be recognized as "the leading authority on the Virgilian tradition in early modern print culture in Italy." ABOUT THE BOOK: Published in 1545 by Giouanni de Farri & Fratelli in Venice. Text centered on the page in Italian, and in italic type. Curiously, the only works of Virgil printed by the publisher were the 11th book of the Aeneid and the Georgics by Virgil, both in 1545. Bound in modern fine half black calf over marbled paper covered boards: cover paper bordered in gilt; five gilt bordered raised spine bands with gilt title in compartment two and tooled gilt fleurons in the other five compartments. Small quarto, 8.25" x 6.2", foliated: title page, 104 leaves, [1] Griffio's griffin device on title page with motto "Virtute duce, comite fortuna;" CONDITION REPORT: Georgics are complete. Lacking a few blank flyleaves but collates to institutional holdings. Endpapers refreshed. Leaves 22, 67, 70, 79, 91 misnumbered 12, 65, 59, 71, 61 respectively (printer error seen in all copies I've studied). Externally fine with a few areas of light rubbing along back cover margins. Square spine, firm hinges and joints, square corners, very tight pages. Internally: the entire text block looks like it was waterlogged at some point - significant water dampening, water stains and page waviness. Professional paper restoration to title page, leaves 1-4, leaves 100-104 and the final leaf containing a one-page index. There are patched holes and missing sections resulting in loss of text in multiple spots on these leaves. Darkening of pages, particularly edges and margins. Multiple rips and tears and jagged page edges from chipping. Smudges. Creases. Bent corners and bent paper along the gutters in multiple spots. FFEP affixed with the ex libris sticker "from the Virgil collection of Craig W. Kallendorf." A rare survivor that has had a storied past and trauma (possibly survived a flood!) but is still standing almost 500 years later.