De rapporti di Parnaso

4to (210 x 150 mm). [24], 168, [24] pp. Collation: a-c⁴ A-Z⁴ Aa⁴. Contemporary stiff vellum binding (lightly stained and with some tiny worm holes), inked title on spine, green silk bookmark. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate on the front pastedown reproduces the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783 - 1839), 7th Duc de Luynes. Several worm holes and tracks on the lower outer corner throughout the volume, however never affecting the text. Lightly uniformly browned, some foxing and staining, but overall a good, genuine copy. 

First and only edition. The second part was never published. "This work is an imitation of Boccalini's 'Ragguagli di Parnaso', with this difference, however, that Boccalini introduces political discussions in his work, while Amenta, more true to his title, confines himself to literary disquisitions and criticism [...] Amenta was considered one of the most correct and elegant Italian writers of his age" (Biograph. Dict. of the Society for the Diff. of Useful Knowledge II.2, 1843, p. 454). 

Three figures were responsible for approving Vico's works for publication (ecclesiastical and civil imprimatur): Don Benedetto Laudati (a Cassinese abbot at the convent of SS. Severino and Sosio in Naples), Pietro Condegna, and Nicola Galizia. All three expressed highly laudatory opinions both on Vico's liber metaphysicus (De antiquissima Italorum sapientia of 1710) and on the two polemical Replies written by Vico between 1711 and 1712. This demonstrates that Vico, in Neapolitan circles, immediately enjoyed the esteem and support of reviewers and censors from both the Church and the civil administration.
The Giornale de' letterati d'Italia (published in Venice) was the most prestigious and authoritative cultural journal on the peninsula. When Vico published his De antiquissima, the Venetian journal reviewed and criticized it in two articles (in 1711 and 1712), most likely written by the Venetian nobleman and philosopher Bernardo Trivisano (1653–1720). Vico responded point by point with two polemical pamphlets (the two Replies). The editors of the journal decided not to reply further and, in an editorial note in Volume XII (1712), praised the "much learning" of the Neapolitan philosopher. They declared that they would leave it without further reply "out of respect for the author" and to avoid dragging out the dispute indefinitely. This was true public recognition of Vico's intellectual stature by Italy's most important periodical.

As early as 1710, even before the controversy with the Venetians erupted, Amenta (1659–1719), openly praised Vico in his De Rapporti di Parnaso (p. 13 n. 1). A prominent Neapolitan lawyer, playwright, and scholar, Amenta structured his work after Traiano Boccalini's famous Ragguagli di Parnaso, creating allegorical news reports from the mythical mountain of Apollo to comment on contemporary literary, philosophical, and linguistic debates. Beyond its satire, the book holds exceptional historiographical significance because of its early praise of Giambattista Vico (1668–1744). In 1710, fifteen years before the publication of Vico's masterpiece, the Scienza Nuova, Amenta singled out Vico and the Jesuit scholar Nicola Partenio Giannettasio (1648–1715), stating that they were working tirelessly to restore "la pura favella latina" (pure Latin speech) in Naples. Amenta's early endorsement paved the way for contemporaries such as Basilio Giannelli (1662–1716), a lawyer and poet involved in the famous Neapolitan "trial of the atheists" of 1691–93, to celebrate Vico's monumental Latin inscriptions and sublime intellect in his educational text for his son, Educazione al Figlio. Given all his contributions, Amenta's volume stands as a primary document for tracing Vico's immediate reception among Neapolitan humanists (B. Croce-F. Nicolini, Bibliografia vichiana, Naples, 1947, I, pp. 173-174).

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\TO0E\006901; OCLC, 16115744; Riccio, Notizie biografiche e bibliografiche degli scrittori napoletani, 1875, p. 24; G. Vico, L'autobiografia, il carteggio e le poesie varie, F. Nicolini and B. Croce, eds., Bari, 1929.

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