Thalès

Two Volumes. pp. Frontis, Engraved Title, XVI (lacks 2 leaves in this section - apparently blanks), 611, [1]; Engraved Title, 493, [3] + Engraved frontis portrait of Boccaccio. Both title pages are fully engraved, each with a vignette showing Cupid sharing tales with Boccaccio as women wait on the veranda of a house in the background. Italian text. 8vo. 205 mm. Wide margined; uncut; deckle edges. Some slight age stain. Old tape repair at frontis hinge. No front free fly-leaf. Early vellum backed marbled boards binding. An attractive (if mis-leading) edition. The Decameron is a collection of novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). It is a 14th-century medieval allegory told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people. Boccaccio probably began composing the work in 1350, and finished it in 1351 or 1353. The bawdy tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary import, it documents life in 14th-century Italy - From Wiki. A false imprint - Because of its sometimes erotic nature, printers and publishers were often loathe to claim the Decameron as their own. Therefore 'Amsterdamo' appears in the imprint of this edition. It was not printed in Amsterdam, but almost certainly in Venice, by Antonio Locatelli. There are several similar, but different editions. They are identified by examination of the occasional ornaments and a notice at the very end of volume two, which in our example reads: "Si Vende Lire Venti Venete." (Sell this for 20 pounds). No priority noted for the variants. W118