La Divina Commedia Riveduta Nel Testo E Commentata da G. A. Scartazzini. [The Divine Comedy].

ALIGHIERI, Dante. [Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini].

Item Number: 119051

Milano: Ulrico Hepli, 1903.

Fourth edition of Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini’s reviewed and expanded edition of Dante’s masterpiece. Octavo, three volumes bound in full vellum with gilt titles to the spine. In near fine condition. A nice presentation.

Dante began writing The Divine Comedy in 1308 and completed it in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. The epic poem is widely considered the most important work of Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. Although recognized as a masterpiece in the centuries immediately following its publication, the work was largely ignored during the Enlightenment, with some notable exceptions such as Vittorio Alfieri; Antoine de Rivarol, who translated the Inferno into French; and Giambattista Vico, who in the Scienza nuova and in the Giudizio su Dante inaugurated what would later become the romantic reappraisal of Dante, juxtaposing him to Homer. The Comedy was "rediscovered" in the English-speaking world by William Blake – who illustrated several passages of the epic – and the Romantic writers of the 19th century.