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Title: Il palio degli asini: poemetto giocoso con note.
Author: ModestoRastrelli.
Contributors: Jacopo Grazioli, printer. Engraved, hand-colored frontispiece byGaetano Vascellini (1745-1805) after design by Giuseppe Piattoli.
Published: Firenze: Presso Grazioli, 1791, 100 pages (p. 100blank).
Abstract: Poem about a race featuring asses (donkeys)instead of horses, traditionally held August 1 in Florence, Italy.
Signatures: 1-11⁴12⁶ (12₆v blank).
Rare first edition. Attractive copy of Rastrelli’s poem thatsatirizes a centuries-old festival originally organized in Florence by Cosimo Iafter the restitution of his power in 1537. The poem, followed by historicalnotes on Cosimo’s victory, focuses on the losers in that battle, who were madeto ride through the city on the backs of donkeys and who receive the wrath ofthe population and the humiliation that comes with defeat. The engraving isdesigned by the noted Florentine painter Giuseppe Piattoli and ischaracteristic of his playful manner.
This copy has an impressive provenance and comes from the libraries of Alvaro Cocchi and CommendatoreGiorgio Fumach and like so many early Florentine illustrated books is veryrare. OCLC lists only one copy in London; NUC adds copies at NYPL, Harvard,Newberry, and Yale. In addition to the first edition, Rastrelli’s Il Palioproved very successful, with later editions printed in 1824, 1825, and 1831,all of which are also rare.
We have seen only one copy of the First Edition on theantiquarian market; it was listed at US$750.
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