Lettere della Signora Isabella Andreini Padovana, Comica Gelosa, & Academica Intenta, nominata l'Accesa. Aggiuntovi di nuovo Li Raggionamenti Piacevoli dell'istessa. Vi sono doi Tauole vna delle Lettere, & l'altra de' Raggionamenti che nell' opera si contengono. Con licentia de'Superiori, e Privlegi

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Venice: Gio. Battista Combi. 1617. Contemporary limp vellum (minor defect to spine)BOUND WITHANDREINI, Isabella. Fragmenti di alcune scritture della signora Isabella Andreini comica gelosa, & academica intenta, raccolti da Francesco Andreini, comico geloso, detto il capitano spavento ; e dati in luce da Flamminio Scala comico, e da lui dedicati al illustrissimo signor Filippo Capponi. Venice; Gio. Battista Combi, 1617. 208 pp. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and woodcut initials. Fine, fresh copy. 8vo . Second edition, but the first revised and corrected, of the collected letters of great Italian actress Isabella Andreini (1562-1604) which first appeared in 1607 at Venice (a Turin pirated ed. appeared in same year) bound together with (as often, but not always the case) the FIRST EDITION OF HER DIALOGUES. "Her dialogues were collected by her husband and issued in 1620 [sic] by Flaminio Scala under the title of Fragmenti di alcune scritture della Signora Isabella Andreini comico geloso e academica intenta (Fragments of some writings by Isabella Andreini, Gelosa actress and Intenta academician)." (N. Dersofi in Italian Women Writers, p. 19).Andreini, an Italian actress and poet, was known for her beauty, elegance, and fine education as well as being one of the most famous performers of her time. She joined the Gelosi troupe, becoming a leading player, and married the troupe's manager, Francesco Andreini, in 1578. She wrote the pastoral Mirtilla (1588) and a volume of poems (Rime; 1601). Andreini was lauded by the poets Tasso, Marini and Chiabrera who have provided dedicatory poems to the first volume present here."In the Letters she speaks of love with a male voice, or else as a woman, she addresses the themes of fading beauty, of feminil perfettione (female perfection), and of friendship between husband and wife. Published after her death, the Letters include a spurious preface that claims her intention in publishing them is to attain, if not immortality, at least very long life. ... The desire for long memory of her art seems to issue if not from her pen, from Isabella's heart."Fragments of dialogues [see second work above] published after her death recreates scenes that Isabella and her troupe had performed. These witty, erudite dialogues, called contrasti amorosi or contrasti scenici (love quarrels or quarrels for the stage) between a man and a woman were set pieces rehearsed apart and adopted as needed, whether in improvised comedy or in plays performed from a written script" (ibid, p. 21).This second edition is much scarcer than the first with OCLC locating only the Ohio State University copy in the United States. The only location for the second volume in the States is also at Ohio [12], 168 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and woodcut initials; italic type; no front fly-leaf; early owner's inscription on title. Includes laudatory verse by Torquato Tasso, G.B. Marino, Paolo Fabri, Francesco Pola, Leonardo Todeschi & others. Fine, fresh copy. § R. Russell, Italian Woman Writers, p. 24; V. Cox, Womens Writing in Italy 1400-1650, p. 242; Basso, Le genre épistolaire en langue italienne, II, 417; DBI, XVII, 704