Orlando Furioso

A handsome illustrated edition and one of the first printed by Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari, dedicated to the Dauphin of France. It has a superb engraved title with Giolito's printer's device (a phoenix being reborn from its ashes on a globe marked with the printer's initials), 56 attractive woodcuts and numerous large ornate capitals, as well as a portrait of Ariosto after Titian in a medallion at the end of the poem, and two states of the printer's device.
The end of the work is made up of a vocabulary of obscure words and an explanation of the difficult passages in the work compiled by Lodovico Dolce, with a separate title and not included in the pagination. Giolito published more than twenty books in thirteen years of printing – this is the third edition of this work, the first appearing in 1542 and the second in 1543.
Printed in round Roman type, double column.
Late 17^th or early 18^th century red morocco, spine richly gilt in six compartments, one compartment marked with “lettres rondes [round Roman type]”. Covers with a frame of triple gilt fillets, gilt roulette frame to insides of covers, all edges gilt. Binding a little rubbed, faint dampstaining to end of volume.
A handsome copy in a lovely red morocco binding.