BATTISTA GUARINI - University of Oxford

86
gebracht; itzo aber … in zerstreueten Reimen, Deutsch übersetzet. Gedruckt im Jahr
1678, 8º. Pp. [10], „170‟ [=180].
BL: 11517.a.27(5). *BNF: Z.34417.
First, unauthorised, edition of the verse translation made in the early 1650s by
Christian Hofmann von Hofmannswaldau (1617-1679), added, in the copy examined,
to his Sinnreichen Heldenbriefe, auch andere herrliche Gedichte of 1680 to give a
collected edition (see Beare, p. 645). The preface (Vorrede) is found only in the two
editions which have the title and the pagination as described in the entry above and
with the date 1678. The printer would appear to have been Christian Weidmann of
Leipzig (Beare, p. 637). Pp. 177-180 are wrongly numbered 167-170.
There are two distinct title-pages bearing the date 1678; both are reproduced by
Möller, „Die Fingerabdruck-Methode‟, p, 39. In this first edition, with Möller‟s
Titelblatt 1678-A, the „B‟ of „BAPTISTÆ‟ is set squarely over the „A‟ of „PASTOR‟
and the work ends with an ornament representing a simple basket of flowers. The
patterns of ornaments which precede the Vorrede and Act I are also reproduced by
Möller, p. 48. In the later edition (Möller‟s 1678-B) the title-page and text have been
reset. The wording of the title is exactly the same but the spacing is different; it can
be seen, for example, that the „B‟ of „BAPTISTÆ‟ is now set slightly to the right of
the „A‟ of „PASTOR‟ and, of course, the whole text having been reset, the patterns of
ornaments preceding the Vorrede and Act I are different (Möller, p. 49). The second
edition was dated by Beare (p. 638) to 1680, a date which is tentatively accepted by
Möller, but Beare produced no evidence to back his claim, merely that it was attached
to the 1680 Sinnreichen Heldenbriefe. (It should be noted that his transcription of the
title-page is incorrect in a number of places.) Beare realised that the two editions
could be differentiated in part by the fact that the later one, rather than ending in an
ornament representing a simple basket of flowers, ended in a more elaborate ornament
incorporating two birds. However, Möller has shown that the later edition can end in
either (he calls them 1678-B and 1678-B‟), the *Weimar copy (14,4:74 d) bearing the
former and the *Wrocław copy (301998e) the latter (p. 50). We could also note that,
if the evidence of the copies used for the Bibliothek der deutschen Literatur (fiche
19552) and for the 1993 reprint in the second part of Hofmannswaldau‟s Gesammelte
Werke (see 1993/2) is taken into account, the two title-pages would seem to have been
used indiscriminately. Möller (p. 62, n. 36) says of the reprint simply that it is
misleading („irrefürend‟); indeed, it appears to have the text and ornaments of 1678-A
but the title of 1678-B. In the BDL version the reverse is the case. The situation is
obviously somewhat fluid. Perhaps the two editions were more contemporaneous
than either Beare or Möller cared to admit, perhaps both indeed dating from 1678.
Heiduk 54 (no. 22) and 57-58 (no. 29, Heldenbriefe). Dunnhaupt III 2142-3
(Heldenbriefe) and 2148 (Getreue Schäfer). German baroque literature, reel 398, no.
1280a. Bibliothek der deutschen Literatur, fiche 19552.
4. [Pastor fido: German]. Il pastor fido oder Der getreue Schäfer. Aus dem
Italiänischen … durch einen berühmten Schlesischen Poeten verteutscht.
Wolffenbüttel, Druckts der Fürstl. Buchdrucker Paul Weiß, [1678], fol. Ff. [14].