Typographie

1764 · réf. KC8048 — Venice: Remondini 1764. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio 315 x 240mm. 38pp. I-XXXVIII. Finely printed with decorative chapter headings and tail-pieces. Engraved printer’s device of Remondini depicting bishop with putti carrying crozier and miter. Engraved vignette of muses on dedication page. Decorative paper covered boards; some minor soiling or staining joint repaired on title verso lacking first and last blanks otherwise complete and in good form with good wide margins. Collection of poetic essays in song of Sister Maria Theresa Crocefissa 1645-1699 an Augustinian nun from Venice known for her long orations printed by the Remondini press. In the 16th century Venice was the marketplace of the world. Its location on the lagoon and its unique connections with the sea distinguished it as a cosmopolitan center among the great cities of the Renaissance. In this larger context commerce and trade played a central role in the development and achievements of music printing. The subject of this work is poems written as canzones and sonettoes or songs and little songs of Sister Maria Crocefissa. From an early age Maria Crocefissa was devoted to long poetic orations. Soon she was also engaged in self-punitive actions including wearing a hairshirt. At the age of 23 she experienced her first religious ecstasies. During these periods of trance some lasting well over a week she regressed into a childlike state that left her completely paralyzed. The presence of Maria Crocefissa in her Augustinian convent of San Girolamo brought about a series of supernatural episodes and mysterious sightings which interested the public. While she was still alive her papers were widely published. This particular title of her poems addressed to Girolama Gaudio is of utmost rarity not located in a contemporary library collection or market worldwide. From the Remondini press who by the second half of the 18th century were employing more than a thousand people in the Bassano del Grappa with hundreds of others busy in their local paper mills and selling their products in scores of countries making them perhaps the biggest publishers in Europe. Between 1751 and 1790 Remondini were granted more licenses for books than all the other Venice booksellers put together. Printed matter was a luxury and the Remondini press was known to employ refined typographical features to suit the tastes of buyers. In this work attention is paid to the decorative elements initials and layout of each page. Remondini hardcover books