DI GERUSALEMME CONQUISTATA Del Sig. TORQUATO TASSO Libri XXIIII. IN VENETIA: Apresso Alessandro de’Vecchi. MDCXXVIII. 1628. (Published date 1628 or 1638, X in ink added to date on the title page). RARE EARLY EDITION. (First published 1580). 8vo. 9.25" x 6.5" Inches (LxB). Pp. [8], 304 pages. Original Stiff contemporary vellum binding. Torquato Tasso (11 March 1544 – 25 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Freed, 1580), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem. He died a few days before he was due to be crowned as the king of poets by the Pope. Until the beginning of the 19th century, Tasso remained one of the most widely read poets in Europe. The Gerusalemme Liberata occupies a larger space in the history of European literature, and is a more considerable work. Yet the commanding qualities of this epic poem, those which revealed Tasso's individuality, and which made it immediately pass into the rank of classics, beloved by the people no less than by persons of culture, are akin to the lyrical graces of Aminta. Its hero was God. A rare book in the original vellum binding, some wear/tear/soiling to covers, spine, ends & corners, pages with some age toning or marginal browning, the binding is tight & intact . The vellum is smooth & supple to the touch, boards a bit WoWed, the first & last few pages are edge worn, Lib. bookplate on the front pastedown, perforated Lib. stamp on the title & on the first page, ink name on the top of the title page, some bright spark has tried to add an "X" to the date on the title page.