Dante Estense

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his manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy, known as the Dante Estense, has established itself throughout the world as one of the most important existing and classified manuscripts of this great work. In fact, both because of the period in which it was produced (certainly the 14th century, and most probably around 1380-90, which means it came out no more than 60-70 years after Dante's death, thus offering the sensation of being almost contemporaneous with his great poem) and because of the completeness of the entire text which makes it an extremely important integral document compared to the many fragments of the Divine Comedy, it is one of the few existing editions of this work offering philological novelties. Other interesting features of this codex are its aesthetic value, with the three exquisite illuminations that decorate the beginning of the three sections of the Divine Comedy, the large illuminated initial letters at the beginning of the poem, and the coloured ones in all the Cantos, and above all the fact that it is one of the very few existing codices that is completely illuminated. This parchment measures 35x25.5 cm and has 140 folios (280 pages) written in Gothic characters on a central column of 51-46 lines. Each page has illuminated scenes in the upper margin that accompany and illustrate the text. The initial pages of the three Cantos have illuminated ornamentation in the margin; in particular, the first two have, in the middle of the lower margin, a large red stemma with a light blue band that belonged to an unknown owner, while the last page has the Christian monogram of the Sun. Because of its great importance, this codex was taken to Paris by Napoleon's commissars on 11 October 1796 and became part of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (whose seal, a c.1, it still bears); after many interesting vicissitudes it was restored and brought back to Modena in 1816 by the head librarian of the Biblioteca Estense, Antonio Lombardi, at the behest of the Duke of Modena.

This work, reproduced in authentic facsimile reprint in seven colours plus gilding, is printed in its actual size on Larius Matt Satin art paper especially manufactured for the publishers by the mill. It consists of two volumes in an all-leather slipcase. The first volume contains the authentic facsimile reprint of the 140 folios (280 pages) of the original codex. Written in Gothic characters, it is richly illustrated with watercolours on the upper margin of each page that represent the salient episodes of the Divine Comedy. The second volume contains the printed transcription of the original manuscript, accompanied by the historical-critical comments of Ernesto Milano, Director of the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, the library where the original codex is kept. The facsimile reprint is entirely bound in calfskin, with gilt toolings on the boards and the spine. The edition consists of only 500 numbered copies.

• Leather slipcase with two volumes hand-bound in calfskin, with gilt toolings on the boards and the spine.
• Limited edition of only 500 copies.
• Size 35x25.5 cm
• Pages 280 (codex)
• Pages 232 (commentary).

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