[Fore-Edge Painting] Jerusalem Delivered (La Gerusalemme Liberato) – Tasso

Fore-edge painting. Milan: Nicolo Bettoni, 1824. Two volumes. 8vo. 333 pp, 341 pp. Full black morocco, gilt ruled, fillet boards, raised banded spine with gilt rule and lettering. Gilt edges around. Ex libris label. Hidden Fore-Edge Painting in each volume: Volume One depecting Royal Mail Coach; Volume Two depicting the Taglioni Windsor Coach. Occasional foxing, otherwise clean and bright internally. An exceptionally appealing set. Near Fine.

Jerusalem Delivered [La Gerusalemme Liberato] is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso (March 11, 1544 – April 25, 1595). First published in 1581, it is a definitive epic of the Italian Renaissance. It offers a mythicized retelling of the First Crusade, blending the 1099 siege of Jerusalem with tales of sorcery, knightly valor, and tragic romance. Written during the Counter-Reformation to bolster European sentiment against the rising Ottoman Empire, the poem focuses on the tension between religious duty and human passion.