Pona, Francesco (1594-1655) La Lucerna di Eureta Misoscolo Academico Filarmonico.
Venice: [Sarzina], 1628.
Quarto, a4, A-Z4 Aa4 (Aa4 blank & present); A-G4, fifth edition, two parts in one volume in contemporary limp paper, an unsophisticated copy with full margins and deckle edges, 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 in.
Pona's notorious and extremely popular collection of stories quickly found its way to the Catholic church's index of prohibited books. The author was a physician, writer, a member of the Accademia dei Filarmonici of Verona, and of the Incogniti of Venice. "The Lamp of the novel has in many other previous existences experienced innumerable reincarnations: as an innocent girl; a prostitute; historical characters such as Sulla, Cleopatra, and Ravaillac; animals such as a flea, a mouse, a horse, a bee, or a cricket. On four consecutive evening, the Lamp instructs its current owner and interlocutor [...] with fantastic tales inspired by Boccaccio, Aretino, Bandell, Barclay, and others. The Lucerna is a collection of novelistic narratives focusing for the most part on the dark, even pathological, sides of human ethos and behavior." (cf. Bondanella & Cicarelli's Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel, 2003, page 32.)
