'The'Decameron' comprisesa group of stories united by aframe story. Whileromanticin tone and form, it breaks frommedievalsensibility in its insistence on the human ability to overcome, even exploit, fortune.

The work is regarded as a masterpiece of classical Italian prose. 'The 'Decameron', collection of tales byGiovanni Boccaccio, probably composed between 13. 'The woodcuts are of French origin, based on those used in a 1558 French translation printed at Lyons by Guillaume Rouillé.' The printer John Wolfe may have attempted to publish either an Italian version or English translation of the 'Decameron' in 1587, when it was entered on the Stationers' Register in his name, but no trace of this work survives, so we may presume it was never published. Illustrated throughout with small woodcut scenes. Title page of the first volume printed with a woodcut border (McKerrow & Ferguson 212) The second volume with an illustrated woodcut title-page with six illustrations within oval frames. Jackson housed in chemise and half-morocco slipcase. With the bookplates of Shuttleworth Forcett Kap Shuttleworth, Cawthorpe Hall and Stuart W. 2) with tears in text (no loss), 2nd Oo2 with sm. E3-4, M3-4, and Dd1-2 small marginal paper flaw to lvs. Light ink stain to first title, light dampstain to lower blank margin of first two gatherings, slight chipping to lower corner of first two lvs. A crisp copy with minor scattered stains and clean tears (no loss). Bound in contemporary English calf ruled in blind, neatly rebacked retaining the original spine, corners mended, later end-leaves. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales), it provides a document of life at the time. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Boccaccio probably conceived the Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. The Decameron is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313â '1375). Folio, 2 volumes, bound in full morocco by Riviere, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, all edges gilt, errata leaf at end of volume one, B1 is a cancellans, woodcut titles each with 6 vignettes, 98 woodcut vignettes in text chiefly repeating the title vignettes, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces. First edition in English of Boccaccio's masterpiece, published by Jaggard published three years prior to his printing of the Shakespeare First Folio.

Decameron by boccaccio