Scarce Antique First (New) Edition THE JERUSALEM DELIVERED TORQUATO TASSO by J.H. Wiffen (Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792-1836)) | Translated into English Spenserian Verse with A Life of the Author | New Edition - with 32 Engravings - twenty-four (24) wood engravings by Thurston, and Eight (8) Steel Engravings | London: George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden 1878 | Dimensions: 7.25" x 4.5" | Leather Spine with Gilded Lettering and Decorations, with 5 Raised Ribs, Marbled Page Edges | Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792-1836) was an English poet and writer, known as translator of Torquato Tasso | Very Good Condition - Leather Spine is worn but solid and intact, Engravings are in Excellent Condition | Jerusalem Delivered, also known as The Liberation of Jerusalem (Italian: La Gerusalemme liberata [la dʒeruzaˈlɛmme libeˈraːta]; lit. 'The freed Jerusalem'), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells an historical version of the First Crusade in which Christian knights, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, battle Muslims in order to take Jerusalem. Tasso began work on the poem in the mid-1560s. Originally, it bore the title Il Goffredo. It was completed in April, 1575 and that summer the poet read his work to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara and Lucrezia, Duchess of Urbino. The poem was hugely successful, and sections or moments from the story were used in works in other media all over Europe, especially in the period before the French Revolution and the Romantic movement, which provided alternative stories combining love, violence, and an exotic setting.