First edition of the first Italian translation of the Poems of Ossian, edited by Melchiorre Cesarotti, which was destined to have a decisive influence on European literary culture. Inspired by the supposedly ancient Gaelic songs collected by James Macpherson, the Ossian poems introduced a new poetic imagery dominated by the sublime, melancholy, and a sense of nature. Cesarotti's translation, free and stylistically highly innovative, contributed to the renewal of Italian poetic language and paved the way for pre-Romantic and Romantic sensibilities, influencing authors such as Ugo Foscolo, Giacomo Leopardi, and Vittorio Alfieri. The work enjoyed extraordinary editorial success and remains one of the most significant cultural mediations of eighteenth-century Italy.