Dante

The following notes do not attempt to give a full bibliography, but merely a selection of works that will be found useful by the readers of this Primer.

A. Text of Complete Works of Dante, Dictionaries and Concordances

Le Opere di Dante, testo critico della Società Dantesca Italiana, a cura di M. Barbi, E. G. Parodi, F. Pellegrini, E. Pistelli, P. Rajna, E. Rostagno, G. Vandelli. Con indice analitico dei nomi e delle cose di Mario Casella. Florence, 1921. The “Sexcentenary Dante.”

Le Opere di Dante Alighieri, a cura del Dr. E. Moore, nuovamente rivedute nel testo dal Dr. Paget Toynbee. Fourth edition. Oxford, 1923.

A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, by Paget Toynbee. Oxford, 1898.

A Concise Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, by Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1914.

Concordance of the “Divina Commedia.” By E. A. Fay. Boston, 1888.

Concordanza delle opere italiane in prosa e del Canzoniere di Dante Alighieri. By E. S. Sheldon and A. C. White. Oxford, 1905.

Dantis Alagherii Operum Latinorum Concordantiae. By E. K. Rand and E. H. Wilkins, Oxford, 1912.

B. History and Literature of Dante’s Times

Caggese, R., Firenze dalla decadenza di Roma al Risorgimento d’Italia. Vols. i. and ii. Florence, 1912-1913.

Casini, T., Letteratura italiana: storia ed esempi. Vols. i. and ii. Rome, 1909.

Dino Compagni, La Cronica con introduzione e commento di G. Luzzatto. Milan, 1906. (English translation of the Chronicle by E. Benecke and A. G. F. Howell in the “Temple Classics,” London.)

D’Ancona, A., and Bacci, O., Manuale della letteratura italiana, vol. i. Florence.

Gaspary, A., History of Early Italian Literature to the Death of Dante, translated by H. Oelsner. London, 1901.

Del Lungo, I., Dino Compagni e la sua Cronica (Florence, 1879-1887); I Bianchi e i Neri (second edition. Milan, 1921).

Piccioni, L., Da Prudenzio a Dante. Turin, 1916.

Rossi, V., Storia della Letteratura Italiana per uso dei Licei. Voi. i. (Il Medio Evo). Milan, sixth edition, 1914.

Salvemini, G., Magnati e Popolani in Firenze dal 1280 al 1295. Florence, 1899.

Villani, Giovanni, Croniche (Istorie) fiorentine. (Best edition at present, Florence, 1823.)

Villani, Giovanni, Selections from the first Nine Books, translated by Rose Selfe and edited by P. H. Wicksteed. London. 1906.

Villari, P., I primi due secoli della storia di Firenze, new edition, Florence, 1905. (English translation by Linda Villari from the first edition.)

For the expedition of Henry of Luxemburg, the reader should study Caggese, Roberto d’Angiò e i suoi tempi, vol. i. chap. ii. (Florence, 1922).

C. Biography, Etc.

Codice Diplomatico Dantesco: i documenti della vita e della famiglia di Dante, ed. G. Biagi and G. L. Passerini. Florence (in course of publication).

Barbadoro, B., La condanna di Dante e le fazioni politiche del suo tempo. In Studi danteschi, ed. M. Barbi, vol. ii. Florence, 1920.

Boccaccio, Il comento alla Divina Commedia e gli altri scritti intorno a Dante, a cura di D. Guerri. Three vols. Bari, 1918. Vol. i. contains the Vita di Dante and the Compendio.

Bruni, Leonardo, Vita di Dante (in Le vite di Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosesto, ed. A. Solerti. Milan, 1904).

Foligno, C., Dante. Bergamo, 1921.

Howell, A. G. F., Dante (in “The People’s Books,” London).

Del Lungo, I., Dell’esilio di Dante. Florence, 1881.

Ricci, C., L’ultimo rifugio di Dante. Second edition. Milan, 1921.

Scherillo, M., Alcuni capitoli della biografia di Dante. Turin, 1896.

Toynbee, P., Dante Alighieri, his Life and Works. Fourth edition. London, 1910.

Wicksteed, P. H., The Early Lives of Dante (translated). London, 1904.

Zingarelli, N., Dante (Milan, 1903); Vita di Dante in compendio (Milan, 1905).

D. The Minor Works

The Convivio or Convito was first printed at Florence in 1490. Eighteen canzoni (erroneously numbered as fourteen) were published at the end of a Venetian edition of the Commedia in November, 1491. Fifteen genuine Dantesque canzoni, with others wrongly ascribed to him, are contained in a collection printed at Milan and at Venice in 1518. The first partially complete edition of Dante’s lyrical poetry is contained in the first four books of Sonetti e canzoni di diversi antichi autori toscani in dieci libri raccolte, edited by Bernardo di Giunta at Florence in 1527. The Vita Nuova was first printed at Florence in 1576; but its lyrics had been given in the first book of the 1527 Sonetti e canzoni. The De Vulgari Eloquentia was published in Trissino’s Italian translation at Vicenza in 1529, and in the original Latin at Paris in 1577; the Monarchia in 1559 at Basle. The latter work had been translated into Italian by Marsilio Ficino in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Letter to Henry VII. was first published in an old Italian version in 1547; in its original Latin by Witte in 1827.

The Epistle to Can Grande was first published in 1700, the Eclogues in 1719. The Letters as a whole were edited by Witte in 1827 and by Torri in 1842.

Special editions and studies. (a) Vita Nuova. Critical edition by M. Barbi (Florence, 1907); with notes and commentary by M. Scherillo (Milan, 1911, reprinted with the Canzoniere); G. Salvadori, Sulla vita giovanile di Dante (Rome, 1906); Vita Nuova and Canzoniere, text, translation, and notes by P. H. Wicksteed and T. Okey (“Temple Classics”). For the “dolce stil nuovo,” V. Rossi, in Lectura Dantis, Le Opere Minori (Florence, 1906), and Parodi, Poesia e storia nella D.C. A new edition of the Vita Nuova is published by K. McKenzie (London, 1923). (b) Rime or Canzoniere. M. Barbi, Studi sul Canzoniere di Dante (Florence, 1915); G. Zonta, La lirica di Dante (in Miscellanea dantesca, supplement 18-21 of Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, Turin, 1922); E. G. Gardner, The Lyrical Poetry of Dante (in preparation). For the tenzone with Forese F. Torraca, Nuovi studi danteschi (Naples, 1921), and A. F. Massèra, Sonetti burleschi e realistici dei primi due secoli (Bari, 1920); for the tenzone with Dante da Maiano, S. Santangelo, Dante Alighieri e Dante da Maiano (in Bullettino della Società Dantesca Italiana, N. S., XXVII., 1920); for the canzone of the Tre donne, Torraca, op. cit., and Carducci, Opere xvi (“Poesia e Storia”). The majority of the Rime are translated by Wicksteed in the “Temple Classics” volume cited above. (c) Convivio. Translation by W. W. Jackson (Oxford, 1909); translation and commentary by Wicksteed in the “Temple Classics”; Wicksteed, From Vita Nuova to Paradiso (Manchester University Press, 1922). (d) De Vulgari Eloquentia. Critical edition by P. Rajna (Florence, 1896); facsimile reproduction of Berlin MS., L. Bertalot, Il Codice B del “De Vulgari Eloquentia” (Florence, 1923); studies by F. D’Ovidio, Versificazione italiana e arte poetica medioevale (Milan, 1910); translation and commentary by A. G. F. Howell in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante”; C. Foligno, Dante, the Poet (Brit. Acad. Annual Italian Lecture, 1921). (e) Monarchia. C. Cipolla, Il trattato “De Monarchia” di D. A. e l’opuscolo “De potestate regia et papali” di Giovanni da Parigi (reprinted in Gli studi danteschi di Carlo Cipolla, Verona, 1921); F. Ercole, L’unità politica della nazione italiana e l’Impero nel pensiero di Dante (in Archivio storico italiano, LXXV., Florence, 1917), and Per la genesi del pensiero politico di Dante (in Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, LXXII., Turin, 1918); E. G. Parodi, Del concetto dell’Impero in Dante e del suo averroismo (in Bull. d. Soc. Dantesca Italiana, N.S., XXVI., Florence, 1919); A. Solmi, Il pensiero politico di Dante (Florence, 1922); C. Foligno, The Date of the Monarchia (in Dante, Essays in Commemoration, University of London Press, 1921); translation and commentary by P. H. Wicksteed in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.” (f) Epistolae. P. Toynbee, Dantis Alagherii Epistolae (The Letters of Dante, emended text, with introduction, translation, notes, etc., Oxford, 1920); F. Torraca, Le lettere di Dante (in Nuovi studi danteschi); E. Moore, The Genuineness of the Dedicatory Epistle to Can Grande (in Studies in Dante, Series III.). (g) Eclogae. P. H. Wicksteed, Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio (London, 1902); G. Albini, Dantis Eclogae, etc. (Florence, 1903). (h) Quaesto de Aqua et Terra. Edited and translated by C. L. Shadwell (Oxford, 1909); ed. V. Biagi, with critical dissertation (Modena, 1907); E. Moore, Studies in Dante, Series II. (Oxford, 1899); Wicksteed, translation and commentary in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.”

E. The “Divina Commedia”

Editions with Notes and Commentaries

[The first three editions of the Divina Commedia were printed in 1472, at Foligno, Mantua, and Jesi. They were reprinted, together with the Neapolitan edition of 1477, by Lord Vernon and Panizzi: Le Prime Quattro Edizioni della Divina Commedia letteralmente ristampate (London, 1858). The first Venetian edition is dated 1477, the first Florentine 1481. There were about fifteen editions of the Divina Commedia published before the end of the fifteenth century. The first Aldine was printed in 1502. The two earliest dated manuscripts, the Landiano (1336) and the Trivulziano (1337), have been published in facsimile: Il Codice Trivulziano 1080 della D.C., with introduction by L. Rocca (Milan, 1921); Il Codice Landiano with preface by A. Balsamo and introduction by G. Bertoni (Florence, 1921).]

La Divina Commedia nuovamente commentata da F. Torraca. Milan and Rome, third edition 1915.

La Divina Commedia commentata da G. A. Scartazzini. Seventh edition revised by G. Vandelli, Milan, 1914.

La Divina Commedia con il commento di Tommaso Casini. Sixth edition renovated and augmented by S. A. Barbi. Florence, 1923.

Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, Italian text with English prose translation on opposite pages, maps and notes, three vols., “Temple Classics” (London). Inferno, Carlyle’s translation with notes by H. Oelsner; Purgatorio, translation and notes by T. Okey; Paradiso, translation and notes by P. H. Wicksteed.

Vernon, W. W., Readings on the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, chiefly based upon the Commentary of Benvenuto da Imola. Six vols. (two on each part). London, new edition, 1906-1909.

La Divina Commedia, edited and annotated by C. H. Grandgent. London, 1914.

La Divina Commedia nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare commento, a cura di Guido Biagi. Turin, 1921, et seq.

F. Subsidiary to the “Commedia” and General.

Benvenuto da Imola, Comentum super Dantis Aldigherii Comoediam, ed. W. W. Vernon and J. P. Lacaita. Five vols. Florence, 1887.

Croce, B., La poesia di Dante. Bari, 1921. (English translation by Douglas Ainslie, London, 1922.)

D’Ancona, A., Scritti danteschi. Florence, 1913.

D’Ovidio, F., Studi sulla Divina Commedia (Milan, 1901); Nuovi studi danteschi (two vols., Milan, 1906-7).

Farinelli, A., Dante in Spagna—Francia—Inghilterra—Germania. Turin, 1922.

Gardner, E. G., Dante and the Mystics. London, 1913.

Hauvette, H., Études sur la Divine Comédie. Paris, 1922.

Holbrook, R. T., Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael. London, 1911.

Livi, G., Dante suoi primi cultori sua gente in Bologna (Bologna, 1918); Dante e Bologna (Bologna, 1921).

Moore, E., Textual Criticism of the Divina Commedia (Cambridge, 1889); Studies in Dante, four series (Oxford, 1896-1917); Time-References in the Divina Commedia (Oxford, 1887).

Parodi, E. G., Poesia e storia nella Divina Commedia (Naples, 1921); Il Fiore e il Detto d’Amore (edited in appendix to the Opere di Dante, Florence, 1922).

Reade, W. H. V., The Moral System of Dante’s Inferno. Oxford, 1909.

Ricci, C., La Divina Commedia illustrata nei luoghi e nelle persone (Edizione del secentenario della morte di Dante). Milan, 1921.

Rocca, L., Di alcuni commenti della D.C. composti nei primi vent’ anni dopo la morte di Dante. Florence, 1891.

Santangelo, S., Dante e i trovatori provenzali. Catania, 1922.

Torraca, F., Studi danteschi (Naples, 1912); Nuovi studi danteschi (Naples, 1921).

Toynbee, P., Dante Studies and Researches (London, 1902); Dante in English Literature from Chaucer to Cary (two vols., London, 1909); Dante Studies (London, 1921).

Wicksteed, P. H., Dante and Aquinas (London, 1913); From Vita Nuova to Paradiso, two essays on the vital relations between Dante’s successive works (Manchester University Press, 1922).

Witte, K., Essays on Dante: selected, translated and edited, with introduction, notes, and appendices, by C. M. Lawrence and P. H. Wicksteed. London, 1898.

Besides Boccaccio and Benvenuto da Imola, the modern editions of the other early commentators, Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli (Udine, 1892), Jacopo della Lana (Bologna, 1866, etc.), the Ottimo (Pisa, 1827-29), Pietro Alighieri (Florence, 1845), Francesco da Buti (Pisa, 1858-62), are worth consulting. Extracts, with notably better texts, are given by Biagi in La D.C. nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare commento.

For the question of the Letter of Frate Ilario, see P. Rajna, Testo della lettera di frate Ilario e osservazioni sul suo valore storico, in Dante e la Lunigiana (Milan, 1909). On the date of composition of the Divina Commedia, cf. Parodi, Poesia e storia nella D.C.; Ercole, Le tre fasi del pensiero politico di Dante, in the Miscellanea dantesca of the Gior. stor. della lett. ital., and D’Ovidio in the Nuova Antologia, March, 1923. In addition to the works already cited, published for the sexcentenary of 1921, may be particularly mentioned the sumptuous volume Dante e Siena (Siena, 1921), and Dante, la Vita, le Opere, le grandi città dantesche, Dante e l’Europa (Milan, 1921).

The Giornale Dantesco, the Bullettino della Società Dantesca Italiana, and Studi danteschi diretti da Michele Barbi (Florence) are invaluable periodical publications.

Of the numerous English translations of the Divina Commedia, besides those of Cary and Longfellow, may be mentioned that of C. E. Norton in prose; Haselfoot and M. B. Anderson in terza rima; G. Musgrave of the Inferno in Spenserian stanzas, and H. J. Hooper in amphiambics; C. L. Shadwell of the Purgatorio and Paradiso in the metre used by Andrew Marvell in his Horatian “Ode to Cromwell.” The terza rima is a measure not easily adapted to English speech. First introduced into English by Chaucer, with the modifications which the difference of our prosody from the Italian requires, in two fragments of A Compleint to his Lady (Minor Poems vi. in Skeat’s Student’s Chaucer), it was used by Wyatt and Surrey, by Sir Philip Sidney and other Elizabethans, and even once by Milton (in his paraphrase of Psalm ii.). Among the few notable English poems in terza rima written during the nineteenth century, Shelley’s unfinished Triumph of Life stands supreme, and in it we may in very truth: