FIRST TOMMASEO'S EDITION OF THREE FAMOUS COURTESY BOOKS, WRITTEN BY GIOVANNI DELLA CASA, MELCHIORRE GIOJA AND SPERONE SPERONI

Della Casa, Giovanni. I tre galatei di monsignor Della Casa Melchiorre Gioja e Sperone Speroni riuniti e ridotti a miglior lezione e forma da Nic. Tommaseo. Livorno: tipografia Vignozzi, 1830.

8vo (142x96 mm), modern half leather binding, marbled paper at boards, gilt title at spine; pp. 154, [6], [1] plate. Frontispiece & plates engraved.

Giovanni Della Casa (28 July 1503 – 14 November 1556), was a Florentine poet, writer on etiquette and society, diplomat, and inquisitor. He is celebrated for his famous treatise on polite behavior, Il Galateo overo de’ costumi (1558). From the time of its publication, this courtesy book has enjoyed enormous success and influence.

Melchiorre Gioja (September 10, 1767 – January 2, 1829) was an Italian writer on philosophy and political economy. His name is spelled Gioia in modern Italian.

Sperone Speroni degli Alvarotti (1500–1588) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, scholar and dramatist. He was one of the central members of Padua's literary academy Accademia degli Infiammati and wrote on both moral and literary matters.

Niccolò Tommaseo (9 October 1802 – 1 May 1874) was an Italian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a Dizionario della Lingua Italiana in eight volumes (1861–74), of a dictionary of synonyms (1830) and other works. He is considered a precursor of the Italian irredentism.

References: IT\ICCU\LIAE\037141 (1 copy at the Biblioteca comunale Labronica Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi – Livorno). OCLC, 83421936 (1 copy in USA at the Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge).

Light traces of use, occasional foxing. Overall, a good copy, recently rebound.