Pietro Bembo. LE PROSE DI M. PIETRO BEMBO, NELLE QUALI SI RAGIONA DELLA VOLGAR LINGUA. Venice: Appresso Iacomo Vidali, 1575. Vellum boards, with ink manuscript on spine and top and bottom edges, all edges stained red. 12mo; *12 **14 A-K12 L10; [52], 258, [2]pp. Printed marginalia, with woodcut device on title page and colophon, full woodcut portrait on **14v, with woodcut printer's ornaments and initials. Italic type; text in Italian. Adams B577; Edit16 5085; USTC 813469.

5 5/8 X 3 3/8 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Pietro Bembo (Italian, 1470-1547) was an important scholar and poet of the Italian Renaissance. His circle included Raphael, one of the most famous artists of the time. Bembo's portrait in the National Gallery, London, painted by the celebrated Venetian artist Titian, was painted after he became cardinal in the late 1530s.

General wear to boards with light staining and one wormhole at back joint, manuscript at head and tail edges; cracking at front hinge but binding still sturdy; ink manuscript on endpapers, with stain and wormhole at front; occasional stain, small chip or frayed edge, and ink manuscript (including title page), light foxing; some light damp staining, pages lightly toned yet clean overall; a very good copy of this popular and influential book of 16th-century Italian prose.