With a scope ranging from humor to tragedy and a lively narrative structure, The Decameron remains an affirmation of humanity and moral values. Ignite your creativity with the fiery Fiammetta. This sensual, Baroque-inspired cover is from a 1725 binding of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a masterpiece of Italian literature about love and lust. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian writer and poet who, together with Petrarch, laid the foundations of Renaissance humanism. He wrote in the Tuscan vernacular, elevating this common Italian language to the same level as the Latin classics and making works such as The Decameron accessible to the average reader. Although he had relationships with important figures such as Petrarch, it was Boccaccio's connection with the common people (la minute popolo) that would greatly influence some of his writing. In 1348, the city of Florence was ravaged by the Black Death, which killed nearly three-quarters of the city's population, mainly the working class. Although it is not certain that Boccaccio himself was in Florence at the time, it is known that his mother-in-law died during the epidemic and that his father participated in the government's efforts to help its citizens. Boccaccio began work on The Decameron, his seminal work, around 1349. Romantic in tone and form, the work broke with medieval norms by focusing on human emotions and ambitions, particularly the ability to overcome (and even exploit) luck. Its sense of humanism contrasted sharply with the prevailing stories of fate and luck, and with the medieval values of courage, faith, and transcendence. The book contains a collection of short stories structured as a narrative framework. It consists of 100 different stories told by the 10 main characters, who have taken refuge in an isolated villa just outside Florence in order to escape the devastating disease. There are humorous stories, romantic entanglements, and tragic real-life consequences. Although it is generally acknowledged that the narrative framework of many of these stories was borrowed from myth and folklore, it is Boccaccio's sophisticated writing style that makes it a unique and defining work. With its range from the humorous to the tragic and its sense of humanism dominating in a lively narrative structure, The Decameron remains an affirmation of humanity and moral values, even when read today. This eighteenth-century binding of the Decameron is now in the Musée Condé in Chantilly, France (along with the binding that inspired our model Evangeline). With gilded flowers and arabesques sprouting from a rich red background, Fiammetta, named after one of the book's main characters, is sure to stimulate your imagination and let your passions run wild.

• Width: 40mm (1½")
• Height: 185mm (7¼")
• Depth: 1mm (")

• Original work: Leather bindings with gilding
• Period: Contemporary art in a Renaissance style
• Region: Made in Canada with European influence