1593
Giraldi Cinthio Hecatommithi Italian Tales / Shakespeare Othello Source
Extremely Rare
Italian Hecatommithi overo Cento Novelle
Hecatommithi or Ecatomiti, is a collection of tales told
somewhat after the manner of Boccaccio, but still more closely resembling the
novels of Cinthio's contemporary, Matteo Bandello. They have a peculiar
interest to students of English literature, for providing the plots of Measure
for Measure and Othello. That of the latter, which is to be found in the
Hecatommithi is conjectured to have reached Shakespeare through the French
translation; while that of the former is probably to be traced to George
Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra (1578), an adaptation of Cinthio's story, and
to his Heptamerone (1582), which contains a direct English translation. It has
also been noted that the story of Othello and Un Capitano Moro resemble the
earlier tale of The Tale of the Three Apples, a story from One Thousand and One
Nights. To Cinthio also must be attributed the plot of Beaumont and Fletcher's
Custom of the Country.
Main
author: Giraldi, Giambattista
Cinzio, 1504-1573.
Title details: Hecatommithi : overo, Cento
Novelle / di M. Giovanbattista Giraldi Cinthio... ; et aggiuntavi la vita
dell'auttore, scritta da Ieronimo Gioannini da Capugnano Bolognese.
Published: Venetia :
appresso Domenico Imberti, 1593.
Physical
desc.: 2 pts in 1 ; 21 cm.
Other
names: Giovannini da Capugnano,
Girolamo, d. 1604.
Language: Italian
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Wear: wear as seen in the photos;
Binding: tight and secure vellum binding;
Pages: complete with all 251+232 leaves
(twice as many pages by modern pagination methods); plus indexes, prefaces, and
such;
Publisher:
Venetia
: appresso Domenico Imberti, 1593.
Size: ~8in X 6.25in (21cm x 16cm)
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Giovanni Battista Giraldi (November 1504 – 30
December 1573) was an Italian novelist and poet. He appended the nickname
Cinthio to his name and is commonly referred to by that name (which is also
rendered as Cynthius, Cintio or, in Italian, Cinzio).
Born at Ferrara, he was educated at the
university there, and in 1525 became its professor of natural philosophy.
Twelve years afterwards, he succeeded Celio Calcagnini in the chair of
belles-lettres.
Between 1542 and 1560 he was a private
secretary, first to Ercole II and afterwards to Alfonso II d'Este; but having,
in connection with a literary quarrel, lost the favour of his patron, he moved
to Mondovi, where he remained as a teacher of literature until 1568.
Subsequently, on the invitation of the senate of Milan, he occupied the chair
of rhetoric at Pavia until 1573, when, in search of health, he returned to
Ferrara, where he later died.
Besides an epic entitled Ercole (1557),
in twenty-six cantos, Cinthio wrote nine tragedies, the best known of which,
Orbecche, was produced in 1541. The bloodthirsty nature of the play, and its
style, are, in the opinion of many of its critics, almost redeemed by
occasional bursts of genuine and impassioned poetry.
His literary work was ideologically
influenced by the Catholic Reformation. In the theatrical works there appears a
vein of experimentation that anticipates some typical elements of taste of the
modern European theatre, for example the Elizabethan theatre and baroque
styles, where psychological violence and horror are used in function and
dramatic action structured in real time.
Among the prose works of Cinthio is the
Hecatommithi or Ecatomiti, a collection of tales told somewhat after the manner
of Boccaccio, but still more closely resembling the novels of Cinthio's
contemporary, Matteo Bandello. Something may be said in favour of their professed
claim to represent a higher standard of morality. Originally published at
Mondovì in 1565, they were frequently reprinted in Italy, while a French
translation appeared in 1583 and one in Spanish in 1590. They have a peculiar
interest to students of English literature, for providing the plots of Measure
for Measure and Othello. That of the latter, which is to be found in the
Hecatommithi is conjectured to have reached Shakespeare through the French
translation; while that of the former is probably to be traced to George
Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra (1578), an adaptation of Cinthio's story, and
to his Heptamerone (1582), which contains a direct English translation. It has
also been noted that the story of Othello and Un Capitano Moro resemble the earlier
tale of The Tale of the Three Apples, a story from One Thousand and One
Nights.[1] To Cinthio also must be attributed the plot of Beaumont and
Fletcher's Custom of the Country.
On Aug-21-12 at 08:15:06 PDT, seller added the following information: