Il pastor fido; Tragicomedia pastorale

Tours: Giametto Metaieri, 1592. Fine. 12mo5 1/2 x 3 inches (140 x 76 mm); 146 pp. including a sonnet in French by R. Brisset and a page of errata. Title page with decorative border and several dropcaps, decorative head and tail pieces Hansome René Kiefer binding in pebbled red morocco, raised bands, gilt title, gilt fillets on dentelles with binder's stamp, marbled endpapers,

Armorial bookplate of Soldati-Hubbard de Veaux pasted inside front cover.

[Brunet II, 1774-1775; Razzolini 179]. This is an early edition of Guarini's most notable work, Il pastor fido, which had its first dramatic representation in honor of the nuptials of the Duke of Savoy and Catalina Michaela of Austria in 1585. It was first published in Venice in 1590 and had many revised editions in the supsequent decade. This play, a pastoral tragicomedy about the loves and fates of shepherds and hunters, is polished in style, and was translated into many languages and became popular during the 17th century. It set the pattern for a code of refinement and gallantry that lasted until the late 18th century.

Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538 - 1612) was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat who worked for many years at the court of Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. He played a large role in the flowering of the madrigal in the late renaissance and baroque era and his poetry influenced the Italian opera librettists who would follow.