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Raccolta di brindisi per tutte le occasioni; apostrofi al vino; inni in lode di Bacco, canzoni da tavola; ringraziamenti per regali di bottiglie; scherzi sul vino e sui bevitori; ecc., ecc.

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First edition of this compact font of inspiration for all partygoers, containing odes to Bacchus, endless praise of the merits of wine, drinking songs, and toasts for every occasion, including a party of printers.

The anonymous compiler supplies a collection of material spanning centuries, aimed primarily at those who are not poetically inclined themselves, so that they might have no shortage of eloquent toasts to draw upon at their own parties. As readers are reminded in the preface, drinking is an integral component of human existence: bottles are ubiquitous at every celebration, and a glass of wine filled to the brim is proposed as a cure for all manner of woes (p. 5).

Among the collection are toasts to doctors, lawyers, and poets, a diatribe against water, and a rather inventive rendition of Dies irae written, naturally, in praise of wine. Also included is a ‘Brindisi per una festa d’operai tipografi’, an impassioned call for fraternity and goodwill among printers: ‘We sons of Castaldi and Gutenberg, of the heirs of Cennini, Aldus, and Bodoni, let us leave all our bitterness at the door’ (pp. 89-91, trans.).

ICCU finds a single copy, in Pesaro. Not on Library Hub; this edition not on OCLC, recording only the rare second edition of 1899 (at UC Davis and Torino only).

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