List 1-2013.pdf - Libreria Antiquaria Alberto Govi

w i t h a d i a l o g u e o n t h e a r t o f p r i n t i n g
7. DOMENICHI, Lodovico (1515-1564). Dialoghi di M. Lodovico Domenichi; cioè, d’amore, della vera nobiltà, de’
rimedi d’amore, dell’imprese, dell’amor fraterno, della corte, della fortuna, et della stampa... Venezia, Gabriel Giolito
de’ Ferrari, 1562.
8vo; early 19 th century half vellum, manuscript title on spine and lower edge; (36), 399, (1) pp. Printer’s device on the title-page and at
the end. A very good copy.
FIRST EDITION of this collection of partly philosophical, partly facetious dialogues. The first four, which deal with the many aspects
of love, are plagiarism of different works, among them the dialogue De vera nobilitate by
Bartolomeo Sacchi called Platina, Ovid’s Remedia amoris, and Plutarch’s De fraterno amore.
The dialogue of fortune and the life of a courtier are modelled on Ulrich von Hutten’s
dialogues Fortuna and Misaulus (cf. R. Gigliucci, Il dialogo Della fortuna di Lodovico Domenichi
e Ulrich von Hutten, in: “Furto e plagio nella letteratura del classicismo”, Roma,
1998, pp. 263-268).
The most original dialogues of the collection are that on devices (a sort of continuation
of Giovio’s treatise) and, above all, that on the art of printing, which was partly included,
without the author’s consent, in Doni’s Marmi published by Marcolini in 1552. Recently the
authorship of the dialogue has been reestablished and given to Domenichi. The latter’s reaction
can be seen in the very destructive judgement pronounced by him upon Doni’s whole
literary production (p. 390) (cf. G. Masi, Postilla sull’«affaire» Doni-Nesi. La questione del
«Dialogo della stampa», in: “Studi italiani”, II, 1990, pp. 41-54; and A. Sorella, Riedizioni,
varianti ed attacchi personali, in: “«Una soma di libri». L’edizione delle opere di Anton
Francesco Doni”, G. Masi, ed., Firenze, 2008, pp. 37-58).
In the dialogue Domenichi exalts the Venetian typographers, Aldus ahead (also mentioning
his relation with Erasmus); discusses the duties of an editor and a translator, the benefit
and prejudice of the advent of printing, and the importance of using nice types (“il bel carattere,
fa leggere volentieri”); and criticizes the increasing crowd of useless books published
every day (“ogni pedante fa stampare una leggenda, rappezzata e rubacchiata ... e se ne va
altiero per due fogliuzzi”). Among the Italian printers Torrentino, Giunta and, of course,
Giolito are praised (Domenichi had worked for all of the them); among the foreigners, the
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