Il Goffredo, Overo Gierusalemme Liberata

Amsterdam: Daniel Elzevier; Paris: Thomas Jolly, 1678. Volume 1 only (of 2), 11 engraved plates (attributed to Sebastien Le Clerc, complete), miniature (10cm x 6cm). Later full calf, spine with raised bands, stamped in gilt; marbled edges. wear on outer spine hinges to extremities, ex libris, back cover corners staring, fades and scratched edges, foxing. Still, a good copy of a nearly 400 year old book.

This miniature book in Italian is Torquato Tasso's renaissance masterpiece. It re-tells the first crusade's siege of Jerusalem, using real people like Godfrey and Tancred, mythological inventions, Satan and God, and love and war as an epic poem. For centuries it inspired other masters like Lord Byron and Milton since its original publication in 1581, but within the last century its has greatly fallen out of popularity compared the legacy it built before.