Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy [1909]

Title: The Divine Comedy.

Author: Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) [Florentine poet, creator of the Italian literary language, author of *The Divine Comedy* and *The New Life*].

Translation: Edward Porębowicz.

Publisher: Warsaw, published by Gebethner and Wolff.

Year of publication: 1909.

Format: 21 cm.

Number of pages: 715.

Binding: Half-leather binding, crafted by bookbinder Wojciech Gigon.

Dante Alighieri’s *The Divine Comedy* is one of the most important works of world literature and a cornerstone of Italian literature. Written in exile during the early decades of the 14th century, the poem describes the poet’s journey through the three realms of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Virgil guides him through the first two, and his beloved Beatrice through Paradise. The one hundred cantos, composed in intricate tercets, combine an eschatological vision with an encyclopedic portrayal of medieval knowledge, theology, and philosophy. They also serve as a passionate commentary on the politics and customs of Italy at that time. The poem was written in Italian rather than Latin, a decision that shaped the development of the Italian literary language. For centuries, it has inspired poets, painters, and thinkers throughout Europe.

This volume contains the full text of the poem in a translation by Edward Porębowicz, one of the most significant achievements of Polish translation at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Porębowicz preserved Dante’s tercet form, faithfully rendering both the structure and the melody of the original. The translation was produced in stages and published in installments in Lviv between 1899 and 1906. The single-volume Warsaw edition by Gebethner and Wolff from 1909 made the complete work available to a wide readership. For several decades, Porębowicz’s translation remained the canonical Polish text of *The Divine Comedy*, and the translator himself was still thoroughly revising it toward the end of his life.

Edward Porębowicz was born on February 20, 1862, in Warsaw. He was a Romanist, literary historian, and translator. From 1899, he was a professor of Romance philology at the University of Lviv, and in the 1925–26 academic year, he served as its rector. Among other works, he translated Byron’s *Don Juan*, plays by Calderón, works by Shakespeare, and Provençal poetry; toward the end of his life, he published a bibliophile edition of Dante’s *New Life*. He died in Lviv in 1937 and was laid to rest at the Lychakiv Cemetery.

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence. He was involved in the politics of his hometown, and in 1302 he was exiled from it; for the rest of his life, he wandered among the courts of northern Italy. He died in Ravenna in 1321, shortly after completing *Paradise*.

Provenance: a clean piece, with no ownership marks or stamps.

This is the full text of Dante’s masterpiece in Porębowicz’s classic translation, in a half-leather binding crafted by bookbinder Wojciech Gigon. A must-have for lovers of world literature and the art of translation, collectors of classics, and connoisseurs of fine bookbinding.

Clean piece. Half-leather binding in good condition, with slight wear on the spine. Pages are intact. Paper with natural spots, discoloration, and soiling. Binding: Wojciech Gigon.

Catalog ID: 7613-21-B-W