TASSO, Torquato (1544-1595). La Gierusalemme liberata. Genoa: Girolamo Bartoli, 1590.

TASSO, Torquato (1544-1595). La Gierusalemme liberata. Genoa: Girolamo Bartoli, 1590.

The first illustrated edition of this epic of the First Crusade by the “King of Poets.” Torquato Tasso’s poem, which reimagines the Siege of Jerusalem and the clash of the crusaders and the Ottomans in a vivid world of magic and romance, was wildly popular for centuries after its composition. Mental illness led to Tasso’s confinement in a madhouse, where he saw no profit from his incredibly successful work. He died only days before being crowned on the Capitoline by Pope Clement VIII as a king of poetry. Adams T243; Harvard, Italian, 494.

Quarto (245 x 173mm). Engraved title; 20 full-page engravings after Bernardo Castello by Giacomo Franco and Agostino Carracci; woodcut borders, initials, and ornaments (occasional light dampstaining). Early 18th-century red morocco gilt-stamped, decorated pastedowns (spine sunned). Provenance: M. Holkes (signature dated 1733).