Lettres à une amie vénitienne

Verona: Officina Bodoni, 1941. Limited Edition. Vellum. Near Fine. Octavo, 9 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches (250 x 170 mm); title page vignette etched by Mario Vellani-Marchi with a couple of small spots, original vellum, slightly bowed, paper slightly wrinkled, else fine; t.e.g., others uncut. Grifo type, 16 point with swash letters. Limited edition of 420 copies on Magnani hand-made paper (I-L, 1-350, 20 unnumbered). This is no XL of the 50 copies reserved for the owner of the letters, M. E. Aeschilmann with roman numerals. This is a PRESENTATION COPY signed by Aeschilmann to Francesco Pastonchi on front free endpaper. First edition of 34 letters written to Mimì Romanelli, of which 32 in French and 2 in German. [Mardersteig 52]
Provenance: Giannalisa Feltrinelli (bookplate)

Giovanni Mardersteig, (Weimar, 1892 - Verona 1977), was a printer and typographer who, as head of Officina Bodoni, created books exemplifying the highest standards in the art of printing. The press began in 1922 in Montagnola Switzerland and moved to Verona in 1927. It printed and published some 200 books and pamphlets, including Politian's Favola d'Orfeo; Shelley's Epipsychidion, Shakespeare's Tempest, and Dante's Vita nuova. There are good collections in many major European and American libraries. The Bodleian Library at Oxford holds a particularly rich collection. Following Mardersteig's death in 1977 his son, Martino Mardersteig, took over and still occasionally used the Officina Bodoni imprint for works he printed on his father's hand-presses.