Dr. Wolf Rudiger Solveen bookplate (1987). Artist: Erhard Zierold.
A woman wearing a fancy hat is reading a book.
Andreas Neumert bookplate (1990). Artist: Erhard Zierold.
A woman reads from a book as an owl looks on. The Decameron, subtitled Prince Galehaut, is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of The Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic.
Erhard Zierold bookplate. Artist: Marian Jozsef Trojan.
A woman, lying in the branches of a tree, appears to be reading.