Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

6 volumes, folio. 100 color illustrations by Dali (toning to select prints). Original textured boards printed in colors and gilt (toning, some rubbing beneath titles on spines of select volumes); acetate dust jackets; printed paper slipcases (mild darkening to slipcases).

LIMITED EDITION, number 2,348 of 2,900 copies (of a total edition of 3,044) printed by Stamperia Valdonega in Verona using hand-made paper by Fratelli Magnani in Pescia. The illustrations were printed in Paris on Rives paper. Dali was commissioned by the Italian government to create the illustrations for this work in commemoration of the 700th anniversary of Dante's birth. There was an outcry among the Italian public when it became known that the Italian government had commissioned a controversial foreign artist for the occasion, and the commission was cancelled. Nonetheless, Dali completed the project and exhibited the completed illustrations in Paris in 1960. Italian publisher Mario Salani took up the abandoned project and assembled the best printers, paper makers, and binders to produce a set worthy of Dali's 9-year investment of time in creating the images.