Discorso di Vincentzio [sic] Buonanni, sopra la prima cantica del divinissimo Theologo Dante d'Alighieri del Bello nobilissimo Fiorentino, intitolata Commedia

DANTE'S INFERNO
4to (218x148 mm). [8], 230, [6] pp. Collation: a4 A-Ee4 Ff6. Printer's device on the title page. Woodcut decorative initials and headpieces. Roman, italic and greek type. With a woodcut diagram of the Purgatory, Mount Zion and the Hell on l. Ff3v. Colophon at l. Ff6v. Contemporary flexible vellum with inked title along the spine (new endleaves). Tears repaired to the upper margin of l. a4 with no loss of text, some light foxing and browning, a good copy.
First edition, dedicated to Don Francesco de' Medici, of Dante's Inferno with the commentary by Vincenzo Buonanni, published by him as a first step in the project of a comprehensive commentary on Dante's poem, destined, however, to stop at this Discorso.
“Born in Florence of noble family during the first half of the 16th century, Vincenzo Buonanni was a student of classical and Italian literature and a member of the Florentine Academy. He maintained cordial relations with the literary personalities of the time, including A. F. Grazzini (Il Lasca). Buonnani's most noteworthy accomplishment is this edition and commentary of Dante's Inferno published under the title, Discorso di V.B. sopra la prima cantica del divinissimo Theologo Dante d'Alighieri del Bello nobilissimo Fiorentino, intitolata Commedia (Discourse of V.B. about the first canticle of the most divine theologian Dante d'Alighieri del Bello most noble Florentine entitled Comedy). The edition is noted for its disconcerting lack of restraint or judgment with regard to the interpretation and the correction of the text […] In spite of its perceived limitations, Buonanni's edition is significant for a number of reasons. First of all, it is the only edition of any part of Dante's poem to appear in the poet's native city between Benivieni's Giuntina edition of 1506 and the Crusca Academy edition of 1595. Moreover, Buonanni's commentary, in its familiarity with and use of Greek literature as a measure by which to consider Dante, foreshadows the beginning of the famous ‘Quarrel over Dante' initiated by the mysterious Ridolfo Castravilla (a pseudonym), who attacked Dante's Comedy in the same year for its deviance from Aristotelian poetic norms in his Discorso... nel quale si mostra l'imperfettione della Commedia di Dante (Discourse... in which the imperfections of Dante's Comedy are revealed). Thirdly, Buonanni's revision of Dante's text on the basis of early manuscripts, particularly upon ‘four good ones' which he possessed, marks, at least in its intentions, a new direction on the philological front, which will lead to the Crusca Academy's critical edition of 1595. The same assessment can be made of Buonanni's good intentions with regard to the recovery of historical sources important to an understanding of the poem. For example, he refers to materials in Guelf archives touching on Dante's political condemnation and subsequent exile. Finally, while Buonanni's exegesis does not illuminate Dante's language, it does cast light on the contemporary language of Florence, and also upon the geography of Dante's Inferno, which represented a continuing Florentine interest since Landino's commentary and Benivieni's edition” (Renaissance Dante in Prints 1472-1629, online).
Edit 16, CNCE7838; L. Ambrogio, Nel Mezzo del cammin. A Dante Journey through 700 years of text and images, Bruxelles, 2003, no. 53; V. Buonanni, Discorso sopra la prima cantica della Commedia, S. Pavarini, ed., Edizione nazionale dei commenti danteschi nr. 35, Rome, 2014; G. Ballistreri, Buonanni, Vincenzo, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Rome, 1972, vol. 15, s.v.