Orlando Furioso In English Heroical verse. By Sr Iohn Harington of Bathe Knight Now thirdly revised and amended with the Addition of the Authors Epigrams ...
[18], 423, [11] p.: illus., 267 mm. (Quarto, in sixes).
Contents
[T.p.] - A note of the matters contained in this whole Volume - [Dedic.] - A Preface, Or Rather A Briefe Apologie Of Poetrie, And Of The Author and Translator of this Poeme - An Advertisement To The Reader ... - [Text, with illus.] - A Briefe And Summarie Allegorie Of Orlando Furioso, Not Unpleasant Nor Unprofitable ... - The Life Of Ariosto ... An Exact And Necessarie Table In Order Of Alphabet [Index] - The Principal Tales In Orlando Furiosos That May Be Read By Themselves - [Colophon].
Responsibility Note
No illustration or decoration is signed. The illustrations (which date from the first edition of Harington's translation printed by Richard Field in 1591) are copies of those made by Girolamo Porro for the Venetian edition of 1584. This 'thirdly revised' edition retains Harington's original dedication to Queen Elizabeth I, who is said to have banished him from court until he had completed a translation of the entire poem, supposedly as punishment for regaling her ladies-in-waiting with erotic passages from it.
References
ESTC, S106834 describes copies having [18], 423, [55] pages.
On Ariosto in art see the catalogue entry on L. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1772).
Summary Note
Beside the decorative headpieces and tailpieces each canto is preceded by a full-page illustration.
The colophon is reprinted verbatim from the 1607 edition, and reads, 'Imprinted at London by Richard Field, for Iohn Norton and Simon Waterton. 1607.'
Provenance
Acquired between 1769 and 1802. Recorded in RAA Library, Catalogue, 1802.
Copy Note
There are inscriptions in ink in an unknown hand on the verso of the title-page (various sums of money?) and on the verso of the colophon (a twelve-line poem on the character of a wife; and, in a different hand, the words, '(Mary: Duplessis) not her booke) but lent her) by A friend, An Dom - 1689').
Heroes
Italian poetry - Epics - Epic poetry - Romances - 16th century
Translations into English - English poetry - Translations from Italian - Epic poetry - Romances - Great Britain - 17th century
Illustrated books - Pictorial works - Great Britain - 17th century