TRISSINO Gian Giorgio Epistola del Trissino de le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana.

Adams, T-951; EDIT16 25807; Brunet, V, col. 952.

Second edition, after the one published by Arrighi (Rome, 1524), of this important treatise on philology and linguistics.

Trissino proposed introducing new letters into the Italian alphabet to more accurately reflect pronunciation: open e and o, transcribed by the Greek letters ε and ω, and the consonants z, j and v; only the latter two were subsequently adopted. These characters were used for the first time in November 1523 or early 1524 for the printing of the Canzone al Santissimo Clemente settimo, according to the poet’s own testimony in his Epistola: ‘la prima volta che queste lettere si sono usate, sono state poste ne la Canzone, che a quella [Vostra Beatitudine] donai’. The punches were engraved by the goldsmith Lautizio Perugino.

The title is decorated with a large woodcut typographical mark, and the text is printed in ‘Arrighi’ italic type.

Born into a noble family, Trissino (1478-1550) studied Greek in Milan with Demetrio Calcondila. His literary output and his theoretical reflections on the vernacular reveal a Hellenistic classicist orientation, aiming to place the Greek model before the Latin model. Forced into exile because of his support for the Empire rather than the Venetian Republic, Trissino stayed in Ferrara, Florence and Rome at the papal court, also carrying out various diplomatic missions for Leo X, Clement VII and Paul III.

Back of the bifolium A1/4 reinforced at the time of binding, else a very nice copy exquisitely bound for Duke La Vallière.

Provenance: Duke La Vallière (de Bure, sale 1783, II, lot 2219) – trace of a detached bookplate – unidentified ownership signature on the flyleaf.