Description

UNIQUE AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT of this collection comprising 100 tales (very much in the style of Boccaccio's Decameron) by Neapolitan artist and scholar Rocco Mormile. 8, 337, 10, 140 pp. Illustrated with a fine watercolor self-portrait of the author on the title-page, a SPECTACULAR FULL-PAGE WATERCOLOR VIEW OF NAPLES (also by the author, signed and dated 1839), and a small coat of arms (surely also by the author). Divided into two sections: stories written in 1837 and stories written in 1864. The tales feature well-known Neapolitan figures like Luigi Serio, Lorenzo Giustiniani, Fulco Ruffo of Calabria, the Princess of Canosa, Nicola Valletta, Domènico Mondo, and Abbot Galiani. Written on good wove paper. 4to. Bound in contemporary calf-backed marbled boards. Binding worn. Internally clean. UNRECORDED. AN IMPORTANT LITERARY AND ARTISTIC SURVIVAL, A UNIQUE WINDOW INTO THE LIFE OF 19TH-CENTURY NAPLES AND ITS INHABITANTS.