First edition of the most renowned work by the Calabrian poet Girolamo Garopoli, in which he expresses his political ideal: an Italy ruled by a theocratic monarchy, over which France should exercise a kind of impartial and selfless protectorate.

But the first obstacle to achieving this goal was, evidently, Italy’s submission to Spanish rule. Garopoli appeals to the French monarch to emulate the feats of Charlemagne—just as Charlemagne destroyed the Lombard kingdom in Italy, his descendant should now liberate Italy from Spanish domination.

The poem recounts, in 21 cantos and 1977 stanzas (twenty more in the second edition, which in this copy someone added by hand), the events of Charlemagne’s war against the Lombards, closely following the example of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso.

Beautiful binding «à la fanfare» with royal provenance.

Provenance: Archibald Philip Primrose, V Earl of Rosebery (exlibris on front endpaper).