DANTE ALIGHIERI Vita Nuova NEW LIFE (1915)

Translated and commented by Artur Górski, Warsaw MCMXV, J. Mortkowicz Publishing House, pp. 140, form. 14.5 x 19, period bookbinding, ownership stamp on pre-title page. Small tear to spine, book clean and well cared for. A volume of poems by Dante Alighieri completed around 1292, dedicated to the figure of Beatrice Portinari, the poet's beloved.

The volume consists of poetic fragments (sonnets, ballata, canzonas), accompanied by prose explanations, introducing the reader to the circumstances of the works and the story of the poet's love for Beatrice. This long-standing story of unfulfilled affection begins with their first meeting in childhood. Later, Dante sees his chosen one only a few times. Dante described the sadness accompanying one such meeting, during which Beatrice refused to greet him, as well as a dream, foreshadowing the death of his beloved, and his despair after this death actually occurs. The subject of some of the poems is also his futile attempts to find comfort and replace his affection for Beatrice with a relationship with another woman (called donna gentile).