Francesco Petrarca
Epistola d[omi]ni Fran[ci]sci Petrarche laureati poete ad D[omi]n[u]m Iohe[ne]m [i.e., Boccaccio] Florentinu[m] poetam De historia Griseldis mulieris maxime co[n]stantie et patie[n]tie
Cologne, ca. 1469
Call No: Incunab.

Originally part of Boccaccio’s Decameron (Book Ten), the story of patient Griselda has been retold by many different authors in a range of literary and artistic genres, from Chaucer’s “The Clerk’s Tale” (14th century) to Vivaldi’s Griselda (1735). Printed by Ulrich Zel around 1469, this is the oldest printed book owned by UCLA, although Library Special Collection’s incunabula holdings are much larger than the Clark’s.