Giovanni Boccaccio played a pivotal role in the extraordinary emergence of the Italian literary tradition in the fourteenth century, not only as author of the Decameron, but also as scribe of Dante, Petrarch and Cavalcanti. Using a single codex written entirely in Boccaccio's hand, Martin Eisner brings together material philology and literary history to reveal the multiple ways Boccaccio authorizes this vernacular literary tradition. Each chapter offers a novel interpretation of Boccaccio as a biographer, storyteller, editor and scribe, who constructs arguments, composes narratives, compiles texts and manipulates material forms to legitimize and advance a vernacular literary canon. Situating these philological activities in the context of Boccaccio's broader reflections on poetry in the Decameron and the Genealogy of the Gentile Gods, the book produces a new portrait of Boccaccio that integrates his vernacular and Latin works, while also providing a new context for understanding his fictions.

This book examines Boccaccio's pivotal role in legitimizing the vernacular literature of Dante, Petrarch and Cavalcanti through argument, narrative and transcription.

Examines Boccaccio's pivotal role in legitimizing the vernacular literature of Dante, Petrarch and Cavalcanti through argument, narrative and transcription.

'There is no doubt that the present splendid volume ... is likely to remain unrivalled for many years to come for width of coverage, richness of detail, and elegance of presentation.' Modern Language Reviews

As a new digital era increasingly impacts on the 'age of print', we are ever more conscious of the way in which information is packaged and received. The influence of the material form on the reading process was no less important during the gradual shift from manuscript to early print culture. Focusing on the physical structure and presentation of manuscripts and printed books containing texts by one of the most influential authors of the medieval period, Rhiannon Daniels traces the evolving social, cultural, and economic profile of Boccaccio's readership and the scribes and printers who laboured to reproduce three of his works: the Teseida, Decameron, and De mulieribus claris.

Reproduction of the original.