Histoire de Bertholde

New edition, illustrated with a frontispiece depicting Bertholde. The engraved title page of the second part is the same as for the first, a small manuscript "1" has been added before "1^re partie".
Full mottled calf binding ca. 1800. Decorated smooth spine. Black morocco title-label. Extremities of corners rubbed. Handsome copy, particularly fresh.
Published at the beginning of the 17^th century, at the end of the author's life, the story of Bertholdo had immense popular success in Italy; it features a deformed dwarf who possesses the highest qualities of mind. The action takes place in the Middle Ages, at the court of Verona, where Bertholde becomes a favorite of the monarch. At that time, deformity or ugliness were synonymous with coarseness and associated with evil; the author manifestly takes the opposite view. This version is freely translated from the original.