Frammenti Lirici dei Fasti Greci, e Romani. Verseggiati da Rosmenio Tirinese (pseudonym), Poeta Arcade F. B.
Lecce: Nella pubblica Stamperia di Vincenzo Marino, e Fratelli, 1795. Item #1438 4to. 240 x 180 mm., [9 ¼ x 7 inches]. 29 leaves plus 1 blank; printed on recto only on light blue paper. Illustrated with a title-page vignette. Bound in prepared paper wrappers decorated with a dot & gold star-bursts pattern. Excellent condition. Rare provincial imprint, printed in a simple style with Roman type, by the local press of Vincenzo Marino & Bros. The printed text has a classroom feel, with a tidy compositional format, perfectly spaced lines and very wide margins. The poems are bound in a single gathering of 30 leaves and printed with such bite that the printed signatures (which ascend to A15) not only emboss each leaf but have in a couple of instances punched a tiny hole in the paper stock. This appears to have been printed in a very small number, probably for presentation. The collection of sonnets on classical themes are written by the pseudonymous author, Filippo Briganti, a poet from Gallipoli who obviously has pretentions of being a member of the local “Arcadia literati.” The book is dedicated to Bonaventura Balsamo, de’Baroni di Specchia Normandia, presumably Bonaventura Luigi Balsamo (1766-1849). This title is not found in OCLC nor in ICCU (Italian Union Catalogue), nor more specifically in the catalogue of the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, which does note another 1795 Marino imprint from the pen of Filippo Briganti entitled, Le quattro Stagioni. Agli amici dei letterati, e delle lettere. There is a second printing of Briganti’s Frammenti lirici by Marino dated 1797 with a slightly new title and dedication, cited in the Biblioteca pubblica arcivescovile, Brindisi, edited by A. De Leo. It is bound with a group of manuscripts and printed works and carries the call number Manuscritti ms-L/3.
This title is also not found in the checklist of Edizioni pugliese dei secoli XVI-XVII nella Biblioteca Nazionale di Bari compiled by Maria Teresa Garuri and Maria Virno. They do cite a copy of Briganti’s Le quattro stagioni and another title printed by Marino but Frammenti lirici is not listed. See also Mario Cazzato & Gilberto Spagnolo I torchi, I caratteri e I fregi: Contributo alla storia della stampa Leccese delle origini (1631) al period postunitario, which includes a brief notice of the Marino press from 1795 through the dissolution of the partnership with is brothers in 1824. (Thanks Garrett Scott for much of this description).
Price: $1,250.00