PONA, Francesco. 
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Very Rare Illustrated Baroque Novel PONA, Francesco. Ormund Das ist, Lieb- und Helden-Gedicht, in welchem des Hoflebens Sitten, Gefahren und seltene begebenheiten eigentlich ab- und ausgebildet werden … Durch einen Liebhaber der Teutschen Muttersprache in das Teutsche übergesetzet (von Johann Helwig). Frankfurt, Joh. David Zunner, 1648. 12mo (120 x 72mm), ll. [22] including engraved title and engraved portrait of dedicatee as part of the pagination, last 2 blank, pp. 289, last blank, with 15 engraved plates, without the instructions to the binder, rarely found bound in; contemporary full vellum, yapp edges, paper label lettered in ink; a tight and crisp copy.
First German translation, very rare, of this baroque novel by the Francesco Pona (1595–1655), an Italian physician, philosopher, Marinist poet and writer. ‘Ormondo’, first published in 1635 to great acclaim, is a heroic novel in seven books, with an English setting. Pona is also known for his translation of Barclay’s Argenis in 1629 and of the first books of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. The central figures are the condottiere Ormondo, who was engaged in a war against Scotland, and his beloved Rosidora. Tournaments, storms, duels, children abandoned in the woods, and the whole topical repertoire of the novelistic narrative are employed. A remarkably modern concept are five insert-stories, which offer an interesting blend of romance and novella traditions. Intricate and full of knightly romanticism,the story is based on actual occurrences, and Spanish, Italian, French, and English backgrounds are introduced, although not really identified’ (Faber du Faur). The novel essentially concludes with an unresolved plot and the tentative promise of a sequel, which never appeared. The translation of Book VII into Latin, published the same year, is perhaps a final homage to Barclay's Argenis. The translation was prepared by Johann Helwig (1609-1674), one of the most active members of the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, a literary society founded by G. Ph. Harsdörffer in 1644. At a young age, he accompanied Athanasius Kircher by ship from Marseille to Genoa and then on to Padua, where he studied medicine and obtained his doctorate. The novel is dedicated to Duke Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig and contains his portrait as well as that of the author. Goedeke knows only of the second edition of 1666, this first edition seems to have been almost entirely lost. Jantz 1325; Faber du Faur 555, for Italian edition see vinciana 3293; VD17 3:308850Z; Hausmann Nr. 0943; Bircher, A; 166; Goedeke III 112, 58, 1 und Hayn-G. VI 249 only list 2. edition of 1666; Dünnhaupt 528, 22; Worldcat: no copy outside of Europe.
5200,- EUR
inkl. 7% USt./incl. 7% VAT
Sachgebiete: Erstausgaben, Literatur bis ca. 1900, Literaturwissenschaft, Märchen/Sagen
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