Catalogo 2013.pdf - Libreria Antiquaria Alberto Govi

16 th century epistolary43) GIOVIO, Paolo (1483-1552). Lettere volgari… raccolte per Messer Lodovico Domenichi. Venezia, GiovanniBattista e Melchiorre Sessa, 1560.122, (2) leaves. With the printer’s device and typographical ornament on the title-page. Modern calf with elabo-rateblind stamped ornaments, marbled endpapers, upper part of the spine and hinges repaired, title-page lightly soiled,but a very fine copy annotated by two old hands, from the library of William Wickham with his printed book-plate.FIRST EDITION published by Lodovico Domenichi. His dedicationto the Genoese nobleman Matteo Montenegro is dated April 1, 1560.Supposed editions of 1548 and 1555 are ghosts. Some of Giovio’s vernacularletters were printed before in two epistolaries: in that of Atanagiprinted in 1554, in that of Ruscelli printed in 1556 (cf. L. Braida,Libri di lettere. Le raccolte epistolari del Cinquecento tra inquitudini religiosee “buon volgare”, Bari, 2009, p. 199).“Ancora più probabile è l’eventualità di interventi sul testodi lettere non preparate in alcun modo dall’autore per la pubblicazione.Un esempio è offerto dall’epistolario di Paolo Giovio, riconosciutodalla critica come uno dei più interessanti del Cinquecento. Si trattadi lettere che conoscono una notevole circolazione manoscritta, e chel’autore manifesta l’intenzione di pubblicare solo nei suoi ultimi anni,senza però effettuare a tale proposito un lavoro concreto. Una sceltaviene data alle stampe nel 1560 da Lodovico Domenichi, uno deipiù noto professionisti dell’editoria veneziana, che interviene sui testida lui stesso selezionati, episodicamente sui contenuti, soprattuttoper ragioni di prudenza e ossequio ai grandi della Chiesa, e sistematicamentesulla compagine linguistica, diminuendo drasticamente lapresenza di forme extratoscane, nell’intento di presentare ai lettori untesto normalizzato. Di conseguenza, la distanza tra la veste originale equella tramandata dalla stampa è grande, e solo la conservazione degliautografi fa sì che possiamo conoscere con precisione l’assetto linguistico-stilisticodato da Giovio alla sua scrittura epistolare” (L. Matt,Teoria e prassi dell’epistolografia italiana tra Cinquecento e primo Seicento,Rome, 2005, p. 86).Paolo Giovio was born in Como. He took a degree in medicineat Pavia, but following his inclination, he devoted himself to thewriting of history. His ready tongue and pen quickly won the favor ofLeo X, who thought that his History of His Own Times was second onlyto Livy. Leo gave him the rank of cavaliere with a pension. HadrianVI made him canon of the cathedral of Como. He was the constantcompanion of Clement VII with rooms in the Vatican. His devotion was rewarded the next year by the bishopric ofNocera. Later, in 1530, we find him accompanying Cardinal Ippolito to Bologna for the coronation of Charles V andin 1533 to Marseilles for the marriage of Catherine dei Medici.Until the fall of Rome his fortunes had prospered. In that catastrophe he lost many of his possessionsincluding some of his manuscripts and retired for a time to the island of Ischia to bewail his calamities. His reputation,too, had begun to wane. Still he continued to find supporters. For twenty years he enjoyed the favor of PompeoColonna and among others to whom he owed benefits and encouragement were the Marquis of Pescara and hiswife, Vittoria Colonna, Ippolito d’Este, Isabella d’Este, the Marquis del Vasto, Giberti, and Ottavio Farnese. Withthe accession of Paul III, however, he fell out of favor at the Vatican. Unsuccessful in his efforts to induce the Popeto make him Bishop of Como and disappointed in his hopes of a cardinal’s hat, he finally retired to Como and thento Florence, where he died December 11, 1552. Probably the occupation that gave Giovio most pleasure in his lateryears was the building and furnishing of the villa on Lake Como, where he collected the portraits of famous men,princes, soldiers, prelates, and scholars (cf. T.C. Price Zimmermann, Paolo Giovio, Princeton, 1995, passim; B. Agosti,Paolo Giovio. Uno storico lombardo nella cultura artistica del Cinquecento, Florence, 2008, passim).Edit 16, CNCE21232; Adams, G-697; B. Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua, (Venezia, 1839), no. 1431; P. Giovio, Lettere,G.G. Ferrero, ed., (Roma, 1956-58); A. Quondam, Le «carte messaggiere». Retorica e modelli di comunicazione epistolare:per un indice dei libri di lettere del Cinquecento, (Rome, 1981), p. 298; J. Basso, Le genre épistolaire en langue italienne (1538-1662). Répertoire chronologique et analytique, (Roma & Nancy, 1990), I, pp. 199-200. € 850,00- 48 -