The Venetian Aldus Manutius won a central place in the history of Italian literature without writing any major work: his printing and editing were enough to guarantee him that place. His name is linked, among others, to small pocket editions called “aldines”, volumes in ottavo of which he printed major Italian, Latin, and Greek literary works. The Aldines editions are equally recognized for choices in punctuation and font, that would come to be known as italic.
In the collection of Italian classics, Manutius collaborated with Pietro Bembo in the publication of Francesco Petrarca’s Canzioniere and the Comedy of Dante, the latter printed with the name Terze Rime. The source of the text Terze Rime was identified in the manuscript today held by the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Rome, vat. lat. 3199, and was passed from Petrarca’s hands to the Bembo family. From this manuscript, passing for an intermediate copy, we arrive at the printing in Venice (Mecca 2013, 14). Throughout the 16th Century, each edition of the Comedy would borrow the text from the Aldine edition of 1502 and would introduce, from time to time, only small variations.
The copy of Terze Rime held by the Université de Montréal dates to the first printing of 1502. The small volume was later enriched by an elegant black leather binding. The ex-libris found in the front cover is made of a similar material as the binding and contains Edward Hailstone’s initials “E. H.”. The same ex-libris can also be found in a copy of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie by Ranulf Glanville dated 1554, and in a copy of A Brief History of Moscovia by John Milton from 1682, both conserved by the Folger Shakespeare Library of Washington. Edward Hailstone was an English collector from Yorkshire (Raine 2013, xxiv). In the catalogue of his possessions (1891), Le Terze Rime di Dante is not mentioned.
The volume also contains a label of American antiquarian William Salloch, from the state of New York (Dickinson 1998, 192). Salloch, along with his wife Marianne, was one of the founders of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. The copy of Terze Rime could have only arrived in America no later than the second half of the 20th Century and, following the trajectories that are to be determined, it finally became a part of the Université de Montréal’s heritage.
Full title: Le Terze Rime di Dante.
Author: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321).
Content: Divine Comedy.
Date of Publication: 1502.
Place of Publication: Venice, Italy.
Publisher: Aldus Manutius.
Language: Italian.
Physical description: 244 pages not numbered, 159 x 100 mm. Full leather binding with gilding on the back and the covers, spine with 5 nerves and the title “Le Terze Rime | di Dante”, the place and the date “Venetiis | 1502” printed in gold. Golden edges.
Call Number: Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, PQ 4302 B02 1502.
Catalogue: https://umontreal.on.worldcat.org/oclc/869246252
Known Owners: Edward Hailstone (1818-1890); William Salloch (1906-1990); Université de Montréal.
Ex-libris and Stamps: on the front cover, ex-libris of Edward Hailstone in black leather and golden digraph “E H” with a flower of five petals. On the first endpaper, label “Université de Montréal | Bibliothèque” with the UM symbol. In the inferior part of the frontispiece, stamp “Université de Montreal”. In the inferior left corner of the back cover, golden label “William Salloch | Pines Bridge Road | Ossining, New York 10562”.
History of the copy: the copy was part of Edward Hailstone’s library and, after that, of William Salloch’s catalogue. Since at least 1980, it has been part of Université de Montréal’s heritage. Given the available information, the intermediate steps between its owners cannot be reconstructed.
Bibliography
Catalogue of the Interesting Contents of Walton Hall, Near Wakefield: The Property of the Late Edward Hailstone. 1891. 3 vol. Manchester: Sever.
Dickinson, Donald Charles. 1998. Dictionary of American antiquarian bookdealers. Westport; London: Greenwood Press.
Mecca, Angelo Eugenio. 2013. “La tradizione a stampa della Commedia: dall’aldina del Bembo (1502) all’edizione della Crusca (1595), Nuova rivista di letteratura italiana, 16, p. 9-59.
Raine, James. 2013. A Catalogue of the Printed Books in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of York. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author and date of the record: Alessio Marziali Peretti, 26/07/2021.
English translation: Brittany Buscio.
