cantico delle creature - ST. FRANCIS

Upon request and without additional charge, subscribed copies can be personalised with aninscription (i.e.: "Copy printed for John Doe”) to be printed in the epigraph of the book.

This is one of 24 numbered copies printed on Umbria paper, handmade in Fabriano, which include an etching print by Pietro P. Tarasco.

Typeset by hand in pt 10 and 8 Garamond:

Introduction by Davide Rondoni, chair of the Committee for the Celebrations of the 800th anniversary of St. Francis (1226-2026).

***

PRINT RUN

385 numbered copies were printed on 14 of the most beautiful papers ever made in the 20th century in Italy, England, Japan and China. 

Here it is in detail:

.112 on handmade cream-colored wove Magnani paper, made in Pescia (Tuscany), euro 150

.100 on handmade off-white laid Magnani paper, made in Pescia (Tuscany), euro 170

.48 on mould-made Amatruda paper, made in Amalfi, euro 250

.44 on handmade cream-colored laid Magnani paper, made in Pescia (Tuscany), euro 280

.39 on mould-made light-blue laid Fiume Giano paper, made in Fabriano, euro 300

.24  su Umbria paper, handmade in Fabriano, which include an etching print by Pietro Paolo Tarasco, euro 1200

.6 on hand-made Japanese Bunko paper, euro 500

.3 on English Barcham Green paper, handmade in Maidstone, Kent in the 1950s, euro 600

.3 on Japanese Mitsumata paper, handmade by Toshiharu Kano in Nagoya, euro 700

.2 on mould-made dusty-rose Fabriano paper original of the 1930s, euro 650

.1 on thin bamboo paper, handmade in China, euro 1000

.1 on ancient Hodomura paper, handmade in Japan, euro 1200

.1 on ancient Hosho paper, handmade in Japan (no more available)

.1 on ancient Imperial paper, handmade in Japan (no more available)

Book size: 16mo format (10x16 cm)
Number of pages and founts: 60 pages typeset by hand in pt 10 and pt 8 Garamond. This type was hand-cut on punches by Henri Parmentier in 1914, and cast by Deberny & Peignot Foundry in Paris. 

***
CANTICO DELLE CREATURE (Canticle of the Sun):

Altissimu, onnipotente, bon Signore,
Tue so’ le laude, la gloria e l’honore et onne benedizione. 

Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfane,
e nullu homo ène dignu Te mentovare. 

Laudato sie, mi’ Signore, cum tutte le Tue creature, 
spezialmente messor lo frate Sole, lo qual è iorno
et allumini noi per lui.
Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore:
de Te, Altissimo, porta significazione. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle: 
in celu l’ài formate clarite e preziose e belle. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per frate Vento e per aere e nubilo e sereno et onne tempo,
per lo quale a le Tue creature dài sustentamento. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sor’Acqua, 
la quale è multo utile
et humile e preziosa e casta. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per frate Focu,
per lo quale ennallumini la notte:
et ello è bello e iocundo e robustoso e forte. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora nostra matre Terra,
la quale ne sustenta e governa, e produce diversi frutti
con coloriti flori et herba. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per quelli ke perdonano per lo Tuo amore
e sostengo infirmitate e tribulazione. 

Beati quelli ke’l sosterrano in pace, 
ka da Te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati. 

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,
da la quale nullu homo vivente po’ skampare: 

guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;
beati quelli ke trovarà ne le Tue santissime voluntati, 
ka la morte secunda no ’l farrà male. 

Laudate e benedicite mi’ Signore e rengraziate e serviateli
cum grande humilitate. 

The volume is housed in a hand-made slipcase and box, custom made to an exact size, whose exteriors are covered with Ingres paper. The book title is letterpress-printed on the slipcase’s spine.

***

The original movable types used for the hand-typesetting of this book make it an exceptional endeavor in the contemporary printing scene. 

Neither monotype nor linotype are used. These typesetting systems from a keyboard are often passed off as manual typography. The Tallone Press also does not print from plastic plates derived from digital compositions (photopolimer plates), today very much in vogue to simulate the effect of type impression onto the paper.