Ero e Leandro.

Parma: Co' tipi Bodoniani (Bodoni), 1802. First edition. Very Good. Octavo (23 cm); [6], XV, [1 blank] pages, with additional leaf inserted before the title page, a unique printed page by Bodoni dedicating this copy of the book to Eugène de Beauharnais(1781-1824), Napoleon's stepson, Viceroy of Italy, Prince of Venice. In contemporary red straight-grain 1/4 morocco over red-dyed boards stamped in gilt on both boards with the monogram of Beauharnais. Green leather title label. Corners worn through, upper board discolored in spots. Old bookseller's note pasted to front blank. Internally very fresh, unopened pages. The whole preserved in custom-made black moiré cloth covered clamshell box.

References: Brooks, 859; De Lama, II, p. 148. See also Gamba, 2362.

One of three great female improvising poets of her age, Fortunata Sulgher Fantastici (1755-1824) entered the Arcadian Academy with the name Temira Parasside (members of the Academy routinely took on special names upon induction, as if their identities "in Arcadia" were somehow elevated over their routine selves). Fantastici toured as an improvisor in the 1780s and 1790s, to great praise and success, and she composed several volumes of written poetry, now relegated to obscurity for no good reason.

Giambattista Bodoni eagerly printed Sulgher-Fantastici's "Hero and Leander," which she based on the Greek rhapsody of Musaeus. Bodoni himself wrote an effusive dedication, in which he says he is repaying the gift of her friendship with a gift of typography!

This copy of the poem is additionally distinguished by an extra sheet inserted before the title page, a unique page from the Bodoni press, marking the book's ownership by "Eugenio Napoleone," that is, Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy and Prince of Venice. Beauharnais was appointed to the role of Viceroy in 1806, four years after the date of imprint.