Dante; Julien Jacques Moutonnet de Clairfons, trans. LA DIVINE COMÉDIE DE DANTE ALIGHIERI, L'ENFER, TRADUCTION FRANÇOIS, ACCOMPAGNÉE DU TEXTE, DE NOTES HISTORIQUES, CRITIQUES, & DE LA VIE DU POETE. Florence and Paris: Che Le Clerc and Le Boucher, 1776. First edition. Full speckled calf, with label, gilt designs, and raised bands on spine, marbled edges and endpapers. 8vo; [4], 577, [1errata]pp. Italian and French text on opposite pages; ornaments throughout.

8 7/8 x 6 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

While Balthazar Grangier published the first French translation of Dante's Divine Comedy in the 16th century, this important second translation by Moutonnet de Clairfons offers the Italian and French text side by side along with a biography of Dante at the beginning.

Boards with edgewear, corners rubbed, front joint cracked, spine rubbed and lightly creased with small leather losses at head and tail; staining and manuscript on endpapers, pages lightly toned with scattered foxing, occasional edge chip and stain, several pages with small loss or damp staining at one corner. A sturdy and clean copy of this important translation.