BATTISTA GUARINI - University of Oxford

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Verona holding a copy of the Pastor fido which appears on the title-page of each
volume. Both these frontispieces are again printed within elaborate frames. The
portrait of Guarini, which, according to the prospectus, was destined for vol. 1, is not
in fact listed in that volume and is sometimes used as a frontispiece in vol. 4.
The first volume, containing the Pastor fido and the Annotazioni, was, after the
closure of the initial subscription, to be available separately („Chi volesse poi il Pastor
fido solo, lo avrà sborsando lire Trentasei‟, the cost of two volumes by subscription),
which is perhaps why it is sometimes found alone. (Alternatively, Tumermani could
have been referring to the issue described in 1737/3). The Taylorian‟s second copy,
which has a Veronese provenance (a round stamp on the titlepage reads „DOM.
PROF. CC. RR. MIN. INFIR .VERONA‟), lacks the portrait of Guarini and also lacks
the engraved vignettes on pp. 340 and (341). Indeed, these two pages and the
preceding one (sigg. XX2-3) are in a different setting from the normal one. The
volume perhaps represents an early, maybe even involuntary, issue, for in his
prospectus Tumermani bemoans the fact that „il primo Tomo, e tutto il secondo sono
già stampati, come si può vedere, a riserva di pochi Rami. E appunto i Rami e i
Disegni sono stati la cagione, che non si è ancor dato fuori lo stampato fin quì, benchè
sia piu di un‟ anno, che la stampa del Pastor fido è finita e l‟Idropica ancora; dovendo
in ciò come si sa dipendere dal comodo degli Dissegnatori e Incisori‟. Another
variation is the frame which surrounds the frontispiece and the plates, being here a
design of scrolls and foliage which otherwise is almost exclusively found with the
Balestra/Zucchi frontispiece in vol. 3. In all the copies of vol. 1 examined, D4 (pp.
23-24) and E3 (pp. 29-30) are cancels. The original state of this leaf, with the reading
„piegndo‟ in line 2 on p. 30, is represented in 1737/3. Both copies of vol. 1 in the
Brotherton Library in Leeds (Special Collections Italian E-9 GUA and Brotherton
Collection For C17/18 GUA) unaccountably have an additional leaf numbered 24
(verso blank), which contains 22 lines of text from Act I, scene ii (pp. 23-24 of the
normal volume): „Odo una voce mormorar … e dirmi: muori.‟, with the catchword
„Vorrei,‟.
The text of the Pastor fido ends on p. 341 and the rest of the first part of vol. 1 is
occupied by Rime scelte. The second part is occupied by the Annotazioni. The
second part of vol. 2 is a reprinting of the „Verona, 1734‟ edition of La idropica, as
edited by Rolli in 1718 and with its own title-page, pagination (now XII, 394 as
opposed to the earlier 169) and signatures. The vignette on the title-page is a
redrawing, with restored lower limbs and plinth, of that found in the earlier London
and Verona editions (see 1734/1 for fuller details). Lists of subscribers are to be
found in the first three volumes and a full list of the works which would have been
published had the edition proceeded is given in vol. 4, the pagination of which runs
(1)-576, 579-643.
ICCU. FirstSearch.