L'Eneide Di Virgilio del Commendatore Annibal Caro

20.0 x 14.0cms, 556pp, full vellum, manuscript titling to spine & early ownership inscriptions to front endpaper (1651), binding soiled and warped with staining and wear, headcap chipped, small worming/pinholes to boards. Internally generally clean with light toning, scattered foxing and marginal wear, title page slightly browned with old ink inscriptions, a few leaves with minor edge tears or creasing. A 16th century edition of Caro's celebrated Italian translation of Virgil's Aeneid, first published in 1581 & regarded as one of the great achievements of Renaissance Italian literature. Caro's translation was enormously influential for its elegant Tuscan style and helped establish the literary prestige of vernacular Italian renderings of the classical epics. Printed by the important Giunti press in Venice and illustrated throughout with decorative woodcut devices, initials and ornaments.