Il Bardo della Selva Nera Poema epico-lirico. Parte prima

Vincenzo Monti (1754-1828)
Parma, Bodoni, 1806. In folio, Laid paper (the watermark is not present in this copy)

Considered to be one of the most beautiful books printed by Bodoni, this work is in keeping with the personality of its recipient: the Emperor Napoleon, to whom the printer and author of the book pay homage. The headers by Evangelista Ferrari and Giuseppe Patrini, already present in the Epithalamia exocitis linguis reddita (1774), are beautiful, as are the initial letters, which, with their large, magnificent new italic fonts and different tones, create an unrivalled mise en page.