Giovanni Boccaccio

Decameron, collection of tales by Giovanni Boccaccio, probably composed between 1349 and 1353. The work is regarded as a masterpiece of classical Italian prose. While romantic in tone and form, it breaks from medieval sensibility in its insistence on the human ability to overcome, even exploit, fortune. The Decameron comprises a group of stories united by a frame story. As the frame narrative opens, 10 young people (seven women and three men) flee plague-stricken Florence to a delightful villa in nearby Fiesole. Each rules for a day and sets stipulations for the daily tales to be told by all participants, resulting in a collection of 100 pieces. Each day ends with a canzone (song), and some of these represent Boccaccio's finest poetry. Each daily collection of stories takes a different tone or theme. Day 1 consists of a witty discussion of human vices. On Day 2, fortune triumphs over its human playthings, but it is trounced by human will on Day 3. Day 4 is marked by tragic love stories. Day 5 brings happy endings to love that does not at first run smoothly. Wit and gaiety again reign on Day 6. Trickery, deceit, and often bawdy license run free on Days 7, 8, and 9. By Day 10, earlier themes are brought to a high pitch; the widely borrowed story "The Patient Griselda" closes the cycle of tales. It is generally acknowledged that Boccaccio borrowed many of the stories from folklore and myth, but the exquisite writing and sophisticated structure of the work make clear that its author was no mere anthologist. His prose influenced many Renaissance writers, and his tales themselves have been borrowed for centuries. While some critics attacked the work as vulgar and cynical, the author maintained an affirmation of moral values throughout even the most licentious passages. In its breadth of treatment of contemporary urban society-from humorous to tragic-as well as in its humanism and its swift and vivid narrative, it remained in the 21st century a remarkably fresh and penetrating document.

Decameron, collection of tales by Giovanni Boccaccio, probably composed between 1349 and 1353. The work is regarded as a masterpiece of classical Italian prose. While romantic in tone and form, it breaks from medieval sensibility in its insistence on the human ability to overcome, even exploit, fortune. The Decameron comprises a group of stories united by a frame story. As the frame narrative opens, 10 young people (seven women and three men) flee plague-stricken Florence to a delightful villa in nearby Fiesole. Each rules for a day and sets stipulations for the daily tales to be told by all participants, resulting in a collection of 100 pieces. Each day ends with a canzone (song), and some of these represent Boccaccio's finest poetry. Each daily collection of stories takes a different tone or theme. Day 1 consists of a witty discussion of human vices. On Day 2, fortune triumphs over its human playthings, but it is trounced by human will on Day 3. Day 4 is marked by tragic love stories. Day 5 brings happy endings to love that does not at first run smoothly. Wit and gaiety again reign on Day 6. Trickery, deceit, and often bawdy license run free on Days 7, 8, and 9. By Day 10, earlier themes are brought to a high pitch; the widely borrowed story "The Patient Griselda" closes the cycle of tales. It is generally acknowledged that Boccaccio borrowed many of the stories from folklore and myth, but the exquisite writing and sophisticated structure of the work make clear that its author was no mere anthologist. His prose influenced many Renaissance writers, and his tales themselves have been borrowed for centuries. While some critics attacked the work as vulgar and cynical, the author maintained an affirmation of moral values throughout even the most licentious passages. In its breadth of treatment of contemporary urban society-from humorous to tragic-as well as in its humanism and its swift and vivid narrative, it remained in the 21st century a remarkably fresh and penetrating document.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) is best known as the author of the Decameron, for which he created a lieta brigata of young men and women narrating a series of popular stories in Italian. Yet during his lifetime and long afterward Boccaccio was celebrated as a leading figure in the revival of classical Latin in such literary and historical works as his Eclogues, The Genealogy of the Gods, and On Famous Women. In The Downfall of the Famous (De casibus virorum illustrium) Boccaccio also composed a work that followed classical models and provided civic and ethical guides for his readers. In this he joined the efforts of his role model, Francesco Petrarch, whose own Latin De viris illustribus and unfinished Africa set the standard for early modern humanists. Boccaccio began The Downfall of the Famous circa 1355 and completed his authoritative version in 1374. In all he presented over ninety biographies of famous men and women in nine books. These ranged from Adam and Eve through biblical, ancient Near Eastern, and Greek lives to his prime examples -- famous Romans -- before concluding with medievals. He drew on a wide variety of sources, from the Bible, through classical Greek and Roman works, to medieval histories and Arthurian romances. He ended with material drawn from stories told him, and his own eye-witness, at the court of Naples. This edition is based on the elegant 1965 translation by Louis Brewer Hall. Hall's edition was selective, concentrating on classical lives. But Hall did include Boccaccio's frames: his "visions" of a parade of historical figures passing before him and engaging in lively moral debates; and his direct musings on fame, private and public vice and virtue, and good and bad fortune. In fact, Fortuna emerges as this work's most important character and theme. Along with contemporaries like Giovanni Villani, Boccaccio saw history and biography as moral arts, underscoring the civic virtues and personal failings of famous men and women, Fortune balancing every success with its inevitable reversal. Newly typeset and paginated, this volume presents Hall's complete English translation. It adds numerous historical, biographical, interpretive, and bibliographical notes reflecting a half-century of new Boccaccio scholarship. Hall's introduction and translation with new preface, notes, bibliography, index, and illustrations. 276 pages.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) is best known as the author of the Decameron, for which he created a lieta brigata of young men and women narrating a series of popular stories in Italian. Yet during his lifetime and long afterward Boccaccio was celebrated as a leading figure in the revival of classical Latin in such literary and historical works as his Eclogues, The Genealogy of the Gods, and On Famous Women. In The Downfall of the Famous (De casibus virorum illustrium) Boccaccio also composed a work that followed classical models and provided civic and ethical guides for his readers. In this he joined the efforts of his role model, Francesco Petrarch, whose own Latin De viris illustribus and unfinished Africa set the standard for early modern humanists. Boccaccio began The Downfall of the Famous circa 1355 and completed his authoritative version in 1374. In all he presented over ninety biographies of famous men and women in nine books. These ranged from Adam and Eve through biblical, ancient Near Eastern, and Greek lives to his prime examples -- famous Romans -- before concluding with medievals. He drew on a wide variety of sources, from the Bible, through classical Greek and Roman works, to medieval histories and Arthurian romances. He ended with material drawn from stories told him, and his own eye-witness, at the court of Naples. This edition is based on the elegant 1965 translation by Louis Brewer Hall. Hall's edition was selective, concentrating on classical lives. But Hall did include Boccaccio's frames: his "visions" of a parade of historical figures passing before him and engaging in lively moral debates; and his direct musings on fame, private and public vice and virtue, and good and bad fortune. In fact, Fortuna emerges as this work's most important character and theme. Along with contemporaries like Giovanni Villani, Boccaccio saw history and biography as moral arts, underscoring the civic virtues and personal failings of famous men and women, Fortune balancing every success with its inevitable reversal. Newly typeset and paginated, this volume presents Hall's complete English translation. It adds numerous historical, biographical, interpretive, and bibliographical notes reflecting a half-century of new Boccaccio scholarship. Hall's introduction and translation with new preface, notes, bibliography, index, and illustrations. 276 pages.

Rare edition with unique illustrations and elegant classic cream paper. The Decameron is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women who are seeking to escape the ravages of the plague. Boccaccio's skill as a dramatist is masterfully displayed in these vivid portraits of people from all stations in life, with plots that revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions. Includes unique illustrations

Rare edition with unique illustrations and elegant classic cream paper. The Decameron is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women who are seeking to escape the ravages of the plague. Boccaccio's skill as a dramatist is masterfully displayed in these vivid portraits of people from all stations in life, with plots that revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions. Includes unique illustrations

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++John Rylands University Library of ManchesterN000478The title-page is engraved. Londra: appresso Gio. Nourse, e si vende a Parigi, da G. C. Molini, 1766. xvi,35, 1],574, 8]p., plate; 4

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT102339Colophon: "Nella stamperia di Giovanni Haberkorn, l'anno 1762.." Londra: presso Giovanni Nourse, 1762. xvi,574, 8],35, 1]p., plates; 4

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT141491Printed in Paris by Prault. Vol.1 contains Filippo Vilani's life of Boccaccio. The titlepages are engraved. London i.e. Paris]: M. DCC. LXVIII. Si trova in Parigi appresso Marcello Prault, 1768]]. 3v., plate: port.; 12

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT102336Forms part of the 'Novellieri italiani' compiled by G. D. Poggiali. Vol.1 contains Filippo Villani's life of Boccaccio. Probably printed in Leghorn by Masi (Parenti, p.124). Londra i.e. Leghorn]: Si vende in Livorno presso Tommaso Masi, e Comp., 1789-90. 4v., plate: port.; 8

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT128698In two parts, each having own register and pagination. The second part has a frontispiece which doubles as an engraved titlepage, 'One hundred novells tales and histories of Iohn Boccace', and a division titlepage reading 'The novels of John Boccace partLondon: printed for John Nicholson, James Knapton, and Benj. Tooke, 1702. 32],237, 1]; 2],287, 1]p., plates: port.; 8

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT128698In two parts, each having own register and pagination. The second part has a frontispiece which doubles as an engraved titlepage, 'One hundred novells tales and histories of Iohn Boccace', and a division titlepage reading 'The novels of John Boccace partLondon: printed for John Nicholson, James Knapton, and Benj. Tooke, 1702. 32],237, 1]; 2],287, 1]p., plates: port.; 8