Savonarola, Operetta, Florence, 1508, later half calf

Girolamo Savonarola

Operetta molto divota... sopra e dieci comandamenti didio: diricta alla madonna, o vero badessa del monasterio delle Murate di Firenze. (Florence: [Carlo Giovanni Stefano], 23 October 1508)

4to (205 x 138mm.), A-C⁶ D⁴, woodcut of monks and nuns on first page, woodcut initials, woodcut of the Crucifixion at end, later half calf, lacking quire C⁶, spine defective

The convent of Le Murate in Florence was one of the largest female houses, and it was renowned for its commercial scribal production; this was anathema to Savonarola who preached there in May 1495 and his sermon on the Ten Commandments included a dig at the books of hours they produced ("loro libriccini") along with other mundane and vain accoutrements. The nuns, however, continued with their work unchanged (see Brian Richardson, Women and the circulation of texts in Renaissance Italy, 2020, pp.111-112).

LITERATURE:

Edit16 53820; Sander 6805 (giving the printer as Bartolomeo de Libri)