“Could there be stories without a moral, of human adventure and misadventure? The horrors of the plague provided Boccaccio with the incentive and the opportunity…Boccaccio creates a human panorama of love, courage, cowardice, wit, wisdom, deceit and folly… If he does not teach the art of  living virtuously, he does the ‘art of living well’” (Boorstin, 266-70).

Boccaccio composed his masterpiece sometime between 1348 and 1352, and his realistic – rather than moralistic or allegorical – characters proved enormously influential through the centuries; Shakespeare drew on Boccaccio for Troilus and Cressida, and as many as 54 early English plays derived their plots from the Decameron (Pforzheimer 71).

We are pleased to offer an excellent copy of the first complete edition in English, comprising the 1625 second edition of Volume I together with the 1620 first edition of Volume II – as virtually always found – in lovely 19th-century morocco-gilt. Browse our current selection.