Bacco in Toscana. Ditirambo. Colle Annotazioni Accresciute

Firenze [Florence]: Per Piero Matini, 1691. Small quarto (23 cm), (8), 46; (2), 251, pages. Title page in red and black with printer's vignette; decorative head- and tail-pieces, and ornamental initial caps. Text in Italian. ~ Third edition, improved. Franceso Redi (1626-1697) used the form of Ditirambo (dithyramb), a poetic meter of the ancient Greeks in the form of a song, here a paean praising the benefits of wine, particularly Tuscan wine. "Redi's poem is thought to have its beginning in a drinking session at the Academia della Crusca in 1666. The situational irony of this learned body in a state of inebriation is transferred to Redi's verse as the praises of solemn literati are sung by a drunken Bacchus. The poem is filled with references to classical as well as contemporary winemaking practices." (Catholic Encyclopedia). The one thousand line poem is forty-six pages, followed by additional annotations including other beverages and chocolate. "One of the most famous panegyrics on wine ever written... The notes are full of learned information on wines of all kinds, and on other drinks such as chocolate, tea and coffee, which latter Redi particularly hated." (Simon BG). Redi was a leading Florentine physician, in the employ of both Ferdinand II and Cosimo III. He is known for discrediting the theory of spontaneous generation and for his work in the field of parasitology. ~ Contemporary full vellum, gilt-decorated spine with leather title label. Fore-edges yapped; top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers with residue of removed bookplate on front pastedown. Contemporary inked name, and faint, early oval stamp to margin of title page and first page of text. Spine split at top and bottom on front joint, and covers a little soiled and bowed, but still an attractive copy. [Simon, Bibliotheca Gastronomica 1268; Osler 5384 (for the 1685 first edition)].