The editions of it are very numerous, but it is with the first four we have now to deal.
The earliest is the _Editio Princeps_, of Foligno, by Numeister, bearing date 1472. In the same year were also printed one edition at Jesi, by Federico Veronese, and another at Mantua, by Germanus, Giorgio e Paolo. That at Naples was edited by Giovanni Francesco del Tuppo, printed by Reussinger, and appeared three years later.
An idea of the value and importance of the volume edited by Panizzi, at the expense of Lord Vernon (published by Messrs. T. and W. Boone, and printed by Charles Whittingham), may be formed by the mere fact that these first four editions are here united in one, which, to the student, must prove an invaluable boon, as he is thus enabled to perceive at a glance the variations in the text.
These editions can only be found altogether at the British Museum, though separate copies exist in other libraries also.
In the year 1835, Mr. Grenville gave the sum of _£60_ for the copy printed at Naples, and in 1842 he purchased for _£42. 16s. 0d._ the Mantua edition, which two copies are now in the British Museum, forming part of his munificent bequest to the Nation.
From Panizzi’s preface we learn that he gave £90 to Mr. Asher, of Berlin, for the Jesi Dante, in which six pages were missing. Fac-similes were made by John Harris, from a copy in the possession of Earl Spencer. Later on, Mr. Winter Jones, at that time Keeper of the Printed Books, purchased another incomplete copy, from which he was enabled to replace four more pages, thus rendering it all but complete.
Two copies of the Foligno Edition are to be found in the same Library—the most favoured possessor in the world of early editions of Dante.
Lord Vernon could have no better opportunity of reprinting them in London. In securing the assistance of Panizzi, whose knowledge and precision were of the utmost importance, he was most fortunate. Moreover, the printing of the book in question is highly creditable to British typography. It is a folio of 800 pages, with a preface by the Editor, and contains fac-similes of the originals. Lord Vernon, being a corresponding member, dedicated it to the _Accademia della Crusca_.
The preliminaries for this work, which was published in 1858, were entered into just ten years before; and a memorandum from Lord Vernon, dated October 23, 1848, is extant, in which he makes a proposal to Panizzi that the sum of £50 should be paid to him every six months, until the completion of the work—the said payment to terminate in four years—the whole sum amounting in the aggregate to £400.