d'Aragona, Maria (1503-1568) & Girolamo Ruscelli (1518-1566)
Lettura di Girolamo Ruscelli, sopra un Sonetto dell'illustriss Signor Marchese della Terza alla Divina Signora Marchesa del Vasto.

Venice: per Giovan Griffio, 1552.

First edition, quarto, woodcut printer's device to title and verso of final leaf; illustrated with woodcut portrait of Maria d'Aragona in profile on V2 (leaf 74); bound in limp parchment, rebacked manuscript spine title, edges stained blue, (some spots to title, final signature with staining, bottom corner of leaf 16/17 soiled), 8 x 5 3/4 in.

Ruscelli's work is an elaborate philosophical, linguistic and historical praise of feminine virtues. D'Aragona cultivated literary salons in the mid-16th century. Paolo Giovio, Pietro Aretino, and many others participated in her events. The last part of the volume is a tribute to D'Aragona and contains twenty-three sonnets by various poets in her honor.

BMC STC Italian page 593; (cf.) Axel Erdmann's, My Gracious Silence, Women in the Mirror of 16th Century Printing, Luzerne: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, 1999, page 190.