The First English Language Edition of Boccaccio's masterpiece, "the dirtiest great book in the Western canon."

The Modell of Wit, Mirth, Eloquence and Conversation. Framed in Ten Dayes, of an Hundred Curious Pieces… BOUND WITH: The Decameron. - 1625, 1620.

Two works in one: FIRST ENGLISH EDITION of the second, second English edition of the first, as virtually always. Quarto. Late 19th-century full dark red morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Isaac Jaggard, 1625, 1620. The five year delay of the second volume has summoned various uncertain explanations, but by the time it was ready, the first printing of the first volume had been exhausted, and a new printing produced. No comparable second printing of the second volume has been recorded.

The first translation into English of one of the greatest books in all literature, to which countless legendary authors -- Shakespeare, Chaucer, Swift, Keats -- are indebted. This anonymous English translation of Boccaccio, often ascribed to John Florio, is one of a small cluster of imprints to carry the name of Isaac Jaggard, joint publisher and printer of Shakespeare's First Folio, on the same presses contemporaneous with The First Folio.

Described by The New Yorker as "probably the dirtiest great book in the Western canon," The Decameron relates several salacious stories , "Wittily discoursed betweene seven Honorable Ladies, and three Noble Gentlemen," sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence, to escape the Black Death tormenting the city. The various tales of love and lust in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In 1559, when the Vatican first produced its Index of Banned Books the Decameron appeared on its first list. The author has even contributed to the Italian language, where the word "boccaccesco" (we might say "Boccaccio-esque") is used to describe something salacious or lewd. In the end, "Boccaccio creates a human panorama of love, courage, cowardice, wit, wisdom, deceit and folly. If he does not teach the art of living virtuously, he does the 'art of living well" (Boorstin, 266-70).

Small ink annotation to front free endpaper, pencil bibliographic annotations to first leaf and recto of rear free endpaper (the latter signed "Mr. B. Quaritch, Ltd"). Text generally clean and fresh with only a few spots of light foxing, a tiny bit of light marginal dampstaining to a few leaves, front inner hinge expertly reinforced. Occasional tiny hole to leaves, affecting letters but not sense of text. An excellent copy, handsomely bound. Book #Bv2407. $22,500. We specialize in Rare, Signed, and Manuscript Ayn Rand, and other Legends and Landmarks.