SPANISH INQUISITION.

PETRARCA, FRANCESCO. 1304-1374. Il Petrarca con dichi arazioni non piu stampate. Lyon: Guillaume Rouille, 1558. 2 parts in one volume. 16mo (120 x 70 mm). a-z8 A-N8 *8 2*8 **8; a-t8 (-n7-8). Several woodcut illustrations. Period vellum, titled in ink on spine. Custom solander box. Lacking 2 leaves (see below), light browning, binding soiled, lacking ties. "EXPURGUE ESTE LIBRO": CENSORED BY THE INQUISITION. Petrarch had a problematic relationship with the Papal Court in Avignon, causing Pope Paul IV to place certain sonnets on the Index librorum prohibitorum in 1559—the year after this edition was published. In this copy, two leaves have been excised, which would have included sonnets 105, 106 and 107 (in this edition numbered 106, 107, 108), while the first few lines of sonnet 108 (here 109) have been caught in the crossfire. In these sonnets Petrarch inveighs against the Court and its wealth. Additionally, sonnet 91 (here 92), "Dell' empia Babilonia," has been thoroughly struck out in ink. The Inquisitor has inscribed, with an indistinct signature, on the final leaf: "Expurgue este libro por comission de los SS. Inquisidores de la Ciudad de Toledo conforme al Indice Expurgatorio ... 4 de marzo de 1585."