The Decameron of Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio: John Payne, Translator - 1931

New York, NY: Blue Ribbon Books, 1931 Blue Ribbon Books, New York. c1931. Hardcover. Edition/Printing not stated. With new erotic illustrations specially made for this edition. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Good +; shelfwear to head, tail, tips, and board top and bottom edges; light rubbing to spine shoulders and boards; glue browning to endpapers. DJ; Fair: NOT Price Clipped ($1.00); missing small pieces to head, tail, and upper tips; suntoning to spine; wear to spine edges on jacket. Blue cloth boards and spine with bright gilt lettering and decorations on the spine. Deckled textblock fore edge. Pictorial Endpapers. Tinted textblock top. 528 pp 8vo. The Decameron is a collection of short stories completed in 1353. The book was published in the wake of the Black Death which swept through Europe in the 14th century. In his book, a group of young Florentine men and women attempt to escape the plague-ridden city. They stay in a villa in the countryside and swap stories which are done over a nine day period and illustrated with erotic setting and liaisons. Intrigue, wit and pathos are contained n these 100 tales of love depicting the charm and richness of life in early Naples. Beauty of narrative, grace of expression, and seaarching pen pictures of human nature make this the most extraordinary work of genius ever written. A clean presentable copy in a Brodart mylar jacket.