Descrizione

8vo (143x95 mm). [8, including 2 blanks], 86 leaves. Collation: *8 A-L8. Lacking the two final blanks. Woodcut printer's device on the title page, woodcut initials. Modern patterned boards. Some browning and marginal dampstaining at the beginning and at th end of the volume, worm track to the last three leaves sligthly affecting the text.
Second and most complete edition of this collection of jokes and comic tales by the Cremona notary Poncino dalla Torre. Compared to the first edition, published in 1581, the total number of stories increased from 40 to 47. The collection, commissioned, according to the dedication, by a librarian in the city, Tommaso Vacchello, was then reprinted without any addition in 1599, 1607, 1609, 1611, 1618, 1627, 1636 and 1665.
All of the tales are set in Cremona and feature the author as the main character. Through his humour, eloquence and wit, Poncino is able to turn all situations in his favour and mock everyone he meets. All the stories have happy endings, and the jokes are never malicious. As a notary, Poncino enjoyed a legal status that enabled him to target not only peasants and Jews, but also women, physicians, attorneys, and even the mayor. At the end of each story, there is always a moral, usually an aphorism. The stories offer valuable insights into the customs and traditions of daily life in Cremona, ranging from tales of beds and eggs to one about a Christian mistaken for a Jew. The reader is clearly expected to share the narrator's prejudices: the butt of the joke may be a doctor, lawyer or local politician, but is just as likely to be a peasant, Jew or woman. Although the antagonists always come to no lasting harm in the stories, the morals betray the shared attitude (the Jews of Facetia 11 are fraudsters, the women of Facetia 26 are dishonest, and so on). Two worlds are contrasted in the tales: citizens and non-citizens. The losers are always the latter (cf. Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 32, p. 48).
There are also numerous stories of culinary interest, such as those of the Partridges, the Fruit, the Asparagus, the Melons, the Dining at the Villa, the Stolen Pig, etc.
Very few is known about the life of Poncino della Torre, a notary active in Cremona, his hometown (cf. F. Arisi, Cremona literata, Parma, 1711, II, p. 166).
B. Gamba, Delle novelle italiane in prosa bibliografia, Florence, 1835, no. 109; USTC, 825353; Edit 16, CNCE15865.