Last term in Rare Books & Manuscripts, I encountered a facsimile of Dante Alighieri's La Divina Commedia at Fisher. The facsimile is a high-end reproduction created from an original manuscript, Palatine 313, which is preserved at the National Central Library in Florence.
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| La Commedia : Pal. 313 Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze facsimile. Printed by Imago in 2012. |
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| Comparing the original with the Facsimile |
The facsimile contains the original 37 miniatures attributed to Italian painter and illuminator Pacino di Buonaguida (active in Florence between 1302-1330), as well commentary written in the gloss by one of Dante's sons, Jacopo, an early scholar of his fathers work.
The facsimile is impressive to look at. The gold leaf is done by hand, on parchment paper, and is hand-treated to achieve the "appearance" of an aged book. The facsimile edition was intended to be rare from creation, with a print run of 599 copies in the world.
I have always been a fascinated with Dante, and, on the one hand, seeing the facsimile was the closest I have been to "seeing" an original copy his work, outside of an Everyman's translation. But on the other hand, I felt underwhelmed, and it only left me with a longing see and feel the original text with my own eyes.
In one sense, facsimile's can be a stand in for an original manuscript. But I find myself wondering what decisions were made to alter or digitally embellish parts of the text, miniatures, or markings on the paper while photographing the manuscript during the reproductive process?
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