2 vols. in 8° (mm 180x120); pp. XVI, XLVIII, 513; 299,160; typographical mark with copperplate vignette on title page of vol. I, hylographed capitals and ornate headpieces to the second volume. Coeval full vellum, gold title on double gusset on spine, splashed cuts. Rare editorial variant of the Cominiana of 1726 - 27 (published in three volumes); in this edition the publisher changes the frontispiece and eliminates the portrait of Dante and the scheme of hell, as well as not publishing volume 2 containing the Rimario. A fine specimen with slight traces of oxide inside and some marginal blooming; spines and edges with small mends, an inscription in ink "Volpi's indices" on the spine of vol. 2. At the end of vol. 1 there are plates of the authorities of the texts. Here is Volpi's quotation in the preface: "where are mentioned the missing numbers of the same authorities that are found in the above-mentioned Table of the Florentine edition; as can be seen on paper 477 of ours. In the second volume there are the Usual Arguments and the Usual Allegories of Dante's Cantos but purged of their errors... Three very rich indexes follow, the first of all the words and ways of saying... the second of all the strange and fabulous things touched on by our Poet, the third of the stories or fables mentioned by the Poet not directly but with a turn of phrase... Antonomasia and Periphrases". A very rare edition not repertoried in Gamba and Mambelli. Cf. for the 1726 - 27 edition, Gamba, 393: 'In the beginning of "vol. Primo", in addition to an erudite Preface by Gio. Antonio Volpi, are the Lives of Dante and Petrarch, written by Lionardo Aretino; a (very imperfect) Catalogue of the main editions of the poem.... The 'vol. Second" includes the Rhyming Book, which is that of Carlo Noci, already published in Naples in 1602, but with notable improvements; and an Index of the Rhymes' endings. The "vol. Terzo" contains the usual Argomenti; the Allegorie sopra ogni canto del poema and three Indici che spiegano tutte le cose difficili e di erudizione, which take the place of Comento, and were compiled by the Volpi brothers. The Academicians of the Crusca judged the present edition much better than Manzani's amended and corrected one.. In so many reprints of the Divine Comedy, it was never thought of adding those Rhymes and Indexes, which are so useful to those who make use of the Ancient Classics; and also for this purpose the edition of the Volpi brothers was kept, as one of the best enterprises of the Cominian Printing House"; see also Mambelli, 58: "Edition much esteemed, which reproduces, without the defects that spoil it, the text of the Crusca of 1595".