Torquato Tasso. LA GIERUSALEMME DI TORQUATO TASSO CON GLI ARGOMENTI DEL SIG. GIO. VINCENZO IMPERIALE FIGURATA DA BERNARDO CASTELLO. Genoa: Stampata per Giuseppe Pauoni, 1604. Hardcover. Gilt tooled and paneled red morocco, all edges gilt, marbled paste-downs. 12mo; [24] 572 [2]pp.; +12 A-Z12 AA11. Italic type; text in Italian. With engraved title page, decorated initials and ornaments, printer's device at end, and numerous illustrations. USTC 4031555.

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

Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) was an Italian poet who followed in the footsteps of his father, the poet Bernardo Tasso. He is most famous for his epic poem from 1581, La Gerusalemme Liberata, or Jerusalem Delivered. This 1604 edition has numerous full-page illustrations by Tasso's friend, the Italian Mannerist painter Bernardo Castello.

Boards with edgewear and several small marks, joints rubbed, light creasing on spine, holes in covers but lacking ties; book plate on paste-down, pages with light toning, foxing, and occasional offsetting, AA9 and AA10 with edge losses not impacting text, lacking final blank leaf. A very good and elegant copy of this scarce title.