The commentary tradition

From manuscripts to the printed editions of the present day, Dante's work has often been accompanied by a commentary to explain the text to the reader. The first few printed editions gave only the poem, but the Venice edition of 1477 came with the commentary of Iacopo della Lana, as well as Boccaccio’s Vita and rubrics summarizing each canto. For the rest of the century, almost all editions featured a commentary.

An edition with commentary cost considerably more than one without, and was for the wealthier reader only. The size of editions also changed over time: all fifteen editions printed during the fifteenth century are large "folios". In the sixteenth century, however, most were printed in smaller, less expensive formats. The 1502 edition of the celebrated printer Aldus Manutius was in the small "octavo" format and, for the first time in over twenty years, went back to the plain text of Dante.