Andrea da Barberino, Italy, 1472
The imaginative works of Andrea da Barberino (ca. 1370-1430s) represent a moment of transition from an older chanson de geste tradition of romance to the more adventurous and fantastic tales of the sixteenth century, popularized by Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso. Barberino's romances also reveal an important coming together of French and Italian literary traditions and the beginning of a more cosmopolitan, European style. The present manuscript underscores the ongoing importance of manuscripts in the age of the printed book since its text differs substantively from those of the first printed (1473) and later (1482) editions. The manuscript is also of interest because it has survived in its original binding of wooden boards held together by three exposed thongs which are sewn through the paper and pegged to the boards.
Paper, 214 leaves, 235 x 162 (236 x 163) mm, 32 lines, in Italian, written in a neat Humanist bookhand.
