Decameron. In two volumes. - Boccaccio, Giovanni

• Author: Boccaccio, Giovanni

• Edition: A special edition of 325 copies this being number 10

• Publisher: Shakespeare Head Press by Basil Blackwell

• Date: 1934/35

• Format: Quarto, 21x29 cm

• Binding: Full blue Morocco, Gilt top edge others uncut, spines lettered in gilt

• Pagination:  xv:318:[1] & xvi:268

• Condition: Internally very Fine No marking or foxing. Bindings very fine

  
  

Description:

Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il Decamerone (often translated as The Ten Days’ Work) is a landmark of early Renaissance literature, composed around 1353 during or shortly after the Black Death. The work consists of 100 short stories told over ten days by a group of ten young Florentines—seven women and three men—who retreat to a countryside villa to escape the plague ravaging Florence. Framed as a storytelling contest, each member of the group tells one tale per day, creating a vivid, layered narrative structure.

Blending tragedy, comedy, wit, and romance, The Decameron reflects a cultural shift from medieval religious moralism toward a more secular, human centred worldview. The stories explore themes of love, intelligence, deception, and fortune. The work’s earthy realism, lively characters, and narrative sophistication make it a foundational text in European literature and a vital precursor to later works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Additional Notes:

Volume I ends with the following: “The text of this first volume of The Decameron has been prepared from that of the first English translation, printed by Isaac Jaggard for Mathew Lownes in 1625. The wood engravings have been cut by R. Beedham and E. Joyce-Francis and compared with those in the edition printed by the Brothers Gregorii at Venice in 1492.”