Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1304-74,
Works, in 2 vols. Printed at Basel by Henrichus Petri (Heinrich Peter), March 1554.

Decorated woodcut capitals show two styles of witty illustration (putti, rabbits &c.).

Cent Rare Folio PQ 4475. A1 1554 (T. 1-2).  In the 17th-18th centuries owned by the convent of S. Giovanni, Castel Gandolfo (Lazio), north of Rome.  On the page exhibited about half a column of text was expunged with metallic ink that has burned right through the paper.  Apparently a monk objected to Petrarch’s Canzone 136-8, which condemned the corruption of the Church in his time in violent language.  Acquired by Robert Dunbabin, first Professor of Classics, 1 March 1915, and given by him to the University Library in 1940.