Hard cover, 24mo, in what seems to be a contemporary rebinding, in three quarter vellum over marbled paper-covered boards, the titles to the spine in in gilt with an onlaid morocco label with additional gilt decoration banding in imitation of raised bands, and gilt floral vignettes to the faux compartments. Page edges are stained yellow, and there is a multicolored silk ribbon bookmark. In Italian. xii, 297 pp. [3pp.] CONDITION: Very Good Plus. Slight soiling to vellum, light rubbing at corners. Some fading to the gilt ornament on the spine. (A vertical mark seen near the foot of the front joint is just a mark, not a split.)The marbled paper has minor area of rubbing on the rear board. The binding is firm, pages bright, no signs of foxing. The engraved bookplate of a Scottish gentleman is on the front pastedown. The title page seems to have been trimmed as there is a cut off signature in old ink to the top corner, with "Naples 18--" below. **This collection, meant to be used in schools, is an student anthology of 24 renaissance- and enlightenment-era Italian writers and thinkers including: Cardinal, scholar and poet Pietro Bembo 1470-1547); Cardinal, politician and historian Guido Bentivoglio (1579-1644); Florentine statesman and philosopher Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527); Neapolitan courtier Bernardo Tasso (1493-1569), and his son the poet Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) and Baroque painter and author, Giampietro Zanotti (1674-1765), among others. There is a pronunciation guide, and some in-text grammar notes, and index. Good for the student of Italian culture and language.**The publisher, Vedova Pomba e Figli (The Widow Pomba [Carlotta Boma] and Children) was established in 1815 as an offshoot of the Turin printing and bookshop begun in 1797. "With the return of the Savoy family, and the abolition of the limited number established by the Napoleonic government for printing companies, in September 1814, the Widow Pomba forwarded a request on behalf of her children to the authorities to open a new printing plant in Turin which, with four presses." (Trecanni) One of the widow's son's, Giuseppe Pomba ((1795-1876) inherited this business, and turned it into one of Italy's first modern and very successful, printing/publishing houses, incorporating the first use of new, imported printing technology from Europe. He purchased Applegath and Cowper rotary printing machines from England in the 1830's, and later had the first steam-powered presses by 1847. (M.Infelise, La nuova figura dell'editore, in Storia dell'editoria nell'Italia contemporanea a cura di Gabriele Turi. Firenze: Giunti, 1997.)
