an edition of the Fior di Virtù, to which it rightfully belongs. We have already looked at the Venetian editions of this book, and shall not be surprised to find that the Florentine printers had the good sense to copy their charming title-cut, though they did not improve it by their addition of an incongruous border of pilasters, a vernicle, and an Image of Pity. The first Florentine edition of this book, with which I am acquainted, has a fitfully rhyming colophon, adapted from that of the Venetian edition of 1493, showing that it was printed at Florence in 1498, and ought, at any rate, to be read on feast-days. To entice readers to persevere in this task, there are thirty-five illustrations, some of which, like the one in the Lucidario, are
divided into two parts, so as to secure a contrast or comparison between an animal and a man—as, for example, between a humble sheep and a proud general riding in triumph, or, as shown in our illustration, between the constancy of the phœnix, who permits herself to be burnt to ashes rather than quit her nest, and that of an Emperor Constantine who (by a gross plagiarism upon Solon) quitted his country for ever, after making his counsellors swear to observe his laws unaltered until his return. The book was printed yet a third time, probably about 1515, by Gian Stephano da Pavia, at the request of Bernardo Pacini. The printer of the 1498 edition is not known; it cannot have been Mischomini, who seems to have brought his brilliant career to a close about 1495. The foregoing notice of his illustrated books is by no means exhaustive. Passing mention has been made in the chapter on Venice of one other important one, the undated Meditatione, attributed to S. Bonaventura, with cuts of peculiar interest, from the opportunity they afford of comparing the different styles in vogue in the two cities.
Three other Florentine books issued during the fifteenth century remain to be mentioned, none of which I have seen. The first of these, an undated edition of Domenico Capranica's Arte di bene Morire (not to be confounded with Savonarola's), published by Morgiani and Johann Petri about 1495, contains twelve large cuts and twenty-two small ones. The larger cuts are interesting, because ten of them are
based on those found in the old block books of the Ars Moriendi, the other two coming from Savonarola's book of the same name. The smaller ones seem brought together rather at haphazard. The other two books, an Æsop, printed in 1495 by Francesco Buonaccorsi for Piero Pacini, and the Morgante Maggiore (a long poem on the adventures of Orlando) of Ludovico Pulci, printed in 1500, both exist only in single copies in foreign libraries, but a good many illustrations from both have been reproduced by Dr. Kristeller.
Of illustrated books printed at Florence after 1500, the most important is an edition of the Quatriregio del decorso della vita humana of Federico Frezzi, printed, this also, 'ad petitione di Ser Piero Pacini di Pescia,' as late as 1508, though there is ground for believing that this may really be a reprint from a fifteenth century edition now no longer extant. Like the author of the Hypnerotomachia, Frezzi was a Dominican, and was consecrated Bishop of Foligno, his native place, in 1403. He attended the Council of Constance, and died there in 1416. He was a man of great learning and a book-collector, but rather a dull poet. His Quatriregio is an imitation of Dante's Divina Commedia, and is divided into four books treating successively of the kingdoms 'of the god Cupid,' 'of Satan,' 'of the Vices,' and 'of the goddess Minerva and of Virtue.' It was first printed in 1481, and went through three other editions before
it was honoured with illustrations. The importance of this illustrated edition has perhaps been overrated. Taken individually, the best of the cuts are not superior to those in earlier Florentine books of less pretensions, while the cumulative effect of the series of one hundred and twenty-six (several of which, it should be said, are duplicates) is seriously diminished, partly by the monotonous recurrence of the same figure in every cut, partly by the coarseness and angularity with which most of the blocks have been engraved. It must be mentioned that the cut on the first page of the poem is signed with the initials L. V., which were at one time interpreted as standing for Luca Egidio di Venturi, i.e. Luca Signorelli, whose recognised signature, however, was L. C. (Luca di Cortona).
Two other great series of Florentine illustrated books still remain to be considered. The first of these is the Rappresentazioni, sacred and secular, which enjoyed a life extending over two centuries, and must be reckoned as the most artistic of chapbooks. In 1852 M. Colomb de Batines published at Florence a bibliography of these 'Antiche Rappresentazioni Italiane,' to which I am indebted for the following details concerning their chief authors. The plays are almost uniformly written in ottava rima, and poorly printed in double columns. A large number of them, at least a score, were written and printed during the fifteenth century, but these earliest editions are, as a rule, not illustrated.
Maffeo Belcari (1410-1484) apparently was the first author who obtained the honours of print. His play of Abraham appeared in 1485, after which it was reprinted some twenty times, the latest known edition belonging to the eighteenth century. Belcari also wrote on the Annunciation, on S. John the Baptist visited by Christ in the Desert, and on S. Panuntius. Lorenzo de' Medici himself wrote a play of S. John and S. Paul, Bernardo Pulci (d. 1501) produced one on the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, while his wife Antonia was quite a prolific dramatist, claiming as her own plays on S. Domitilla, S. Guglielma, the Patriarch Joseph, S. Francis, and the Prodigal Son. During the fifteenth century anonymous plays were written on the Nativity, on the life of Queen Hester, on the Angel Raphael, on the conversion of three robbers by S. Francis, and on S. Eustachio, S. Antony, and S. Antonia. Plays on the Last Judgment, on S. Agatha, S. Agnes, S. Catharine, S. Cecilia, S. Christina, &c., also appeared at an early date. An angel, as a rule, acts as Prologue, and the action of the drama is divided between numerous characters. Most of the plays were, doubtless, intended to be acted on the feast-day of the Saint whose life they celebrate, and in a church bearing the Saint's name, but the multiplicity of the editions show that they also won the favour of a reading public.
A few undated editions of these little books, from the types used in their press work, may be