Caviceo, Jacopo (1443-1511)
Dialogue Treselegant Intitule le Peregrin.

Paris: by Nicolas Couteau for Galliot du Pré, [25 May 1527].

First edition in French, small folio, illustrated with three very large (nearly full-page) woodcuts; text printed in gothic letter, attractive set of woodcut initials used throughout; bound in full 19th century calf by Koehler; the final leaf, blank but for printer's woodcut device, lacking and provided in facsimile, 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.

Caviceo's romance was first published in Italian in 1508 and was very popular. The tale of Peregrino and his love Genevera follows the now classic "star-crossed" motif, long before Shakespeare explored the theme. "Caviceo tells their tale with brio in a delightful array of narrative modes, including amatory epistles, philosophical digressions that anticipate later Renaissance dialogues in love treatises, autobiographical references, seemingly realistic courtroom dramas, and outlandish tales. After Peregrino endures many trials, including abduction by pirates, dangerous trips to the Orient and to Hell, almost insurmountable obstacles erected by Genevera's family, and wild intrigues of all kinds, the bumbling protagonist finally unites in marriage with his beloved." (Quoted from Sherry Roush's Speaking Spirits: Ventriloquizing the Dead in Renaissance Italy, University of Toronto Press, 2015, page 118 ff.)

Brunet I, 1701-1702; not in Adams or Mortimer French; Worldcat shows three copies in American libraries; rare at auction.