Letere de diversi eccellentissimi signori a diversi huomini scritti. Libro primo. [Venezia, Curzio Traiano Navò, 1542]. [Bound with:] Le Lettere [...] Sopra le dieci giornate del Decamerone. Di M. Giovanni Boccaccio. [Venezia, Baldassare Costantini], 1543

Two works in one volume.

I. NAVÒ:

8vo. (4), 100 leaves (with errors in the foliation). ()⁴, A-M⁸, N⁴. Old vellum.

Basso, pp. 73-74; Braida, p. 307; Edit16, CNCE 31531; Quondam, p. 279; J. Bonfadio, Le Lettere e una scrittura burlesca, A. Greco, ed., (Roma, 1978), passim; J. Cartwright, Baldassarre Castiglione the Perfect Courtier: his Life and Letters, (London, 1908), II, pp. 354-355; V. Colonna, Carteggio, G. Müller & E. Ferrero, eds., (Torino, 1892), passim; G. Guidiccioni, Lettere, M.T. Graziosi, ed., (Roma, 1979), p. 37; P. Trovato, Intorno al testo e alla cronologia delle ‘Lettere' di Jacopo Bonfadio, in: “Studi e problemi di critica testuale”, 20, 1980, pp. 29-60.

FIRST EDITION. The volume contains 106 and is dedicated to the Venetian merchant Angelo di Motti. In the dedication the printer proudly states that his intention was to publish a collection of letters written by ‘diversi dotti huomini et d'alto grado' in the ‘thoscana eloquenza', following the example of the most important letter writer of anquity: “Le belle et dotte epistole di Cicerone Messer Angelo mio, del cui latte si sono nudriti e si nudriscono tutti quelli che vogliono gustar la purità et la eleganza della romana favella non sarebbon per aventura venute alla cognitione de' nostri tempi, se non la molto diligenza del suo famigliare non l'avesse raccolte insieme e publicate. Il cui essempio io parimenti seguitar volendo, diverse lettere [...] nella nostra lingua scritte in un volume riducendo, hora a utilità de gli studiosi lo publico, et ne fo parte a ciascun rendendomi certo che i discepoli della thoscana eloquenza dalle lettioni loro diletto, et frutto non mediocre apprender potranno” (l. ()2r).

In October of 1542 was also published the most successful of all Italian letter collections of the sixteenth century: Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini et eccellentissimi ingegni. Libri primo, edited by Paolo Manuzio. Whether Navò anthology preceded that of Manuzio cannot be established, but he was convinced to be the first to publish that kind of book. However, the two works, although having in common some of the authors and even a few letters, are completely different in their intent and structure. Whereas Manuzio's work was enormous successful, was reprinted several times and grow into a three volume anthology, Navò's edition was never reprinted (cf. L. Braida, Modelli letterari, eterodossia e autocensura nelle antologie epistolari. Il primo libro delle ‘Lettere volgari' (Venezia, 1542), in: “Scripta volant, verba manent. Schriftkulturen in Europa zwischen 1500 und 1900”, A. Messerli & R. Chartier, eds., Basel, 2007, pp. 316-335).

Castiglione, Baldassarre to Clement VII. Burgos, December 8, 1532 [i.e. December 10, 1527] (l. 1r)

Sanga,[Giambattista] to Cardinal di Santa Croce [Quiñones, Francisco?] (l. 7r)

Gheno [i.e. Gherio], Goro to Cardinal S. Maria in Portico [Dovizi da Bibbiena, Bernardo]. Firenze, January, 21, 1518 (l. 8v)

[id.] to id. (l. 9v)

Vece Cancellier della Chiesa [Medici, Giulio de'] to id. Firenze, September 16, 1519 (l. 11r)

id. to id. Roma, August 14, 1528 [i.e. 1518?] (l. 14r)

id. to id. Firenze, February 21, 1518 (l. 15r)

id. to id. (l. 17v)

Medici, Lorenzo de', Duca di Urbino to id. Firenze, September 13, 1518 (l. 19r)

Vece Cancellier [Medici, Giulio de'] to id. Monte Fiascone, October 5, 1518 (l. 19v)

id. to id. Roma, August 27, 1518 (l. 22r)

[Dovizi da] Bibbiena, Bernardo to [Medici, Giulio de']. Roma, November 26, 1523 (l. 23r)

Vece Cancellier [Medici, Giulio de'] to Corner, Giorgio. September 19, 1523 (l. 24r)

Prothonotario Caracciolo, [Marino] to id. Roma, September 18, 1523 (l. 24v)

Giberti, Gianmatteo to Trivulzio, Paolo Camillo. Roma, October 2, 1526 (l. 25r, i.e. 26r)

id. to Cardinal S. Maria in Portico [Dovizi da Bibbiena, Bernardo]. Roma, January 8, 1527 (l.25v, i.e. 26v)

id. to id. Roma, January 12, 1527 (l. 27v)

Vescovo di Fossombrone [Guidiccioni, Giovanni] to Cardinal Trivulzio, [Agostino]. Aix en Provence, August, 13, 1536 (l. 27v, i.e. 28v)

Cardinal To[u]rnon, [François de] to Cardinal Triulzio, [Agostino]. Lyon, June 10 (l. 32v)

Canossa, Lodovico di to Clement VII. [1523] (l. 33r)

Vescovo di Baiusa [Canossa, Lodovico di] to Re di Francia [Francis I] [ca. 1526] (l.33v)

Vescovo di Baiusa [Canossa, Lodovico di] to Mons. Lutrech [Foix, Odet de, sieur de Lautrec] (l. 34.r)

n.s. to Fanzino, [Sigismondo]. Casale, April 27, 1539 (l. 36v)

Sanga, [Giambattista] to Cardinal Triulzio, [Agostino]. May 7, 1528 (l. 37r)

n.s. to Sanga, [Giambattista]. (l. 37v)

Marchesa di Pescara [Colonna, Vittoria] to Principe [Orange, Philibert de Châlon, Prince d'] [July, 1528] (l. 38r)

Torre, Fr.[ancesco della] to Gualteruzzi, Carlo. Vicenza, March 13, 1538 (l. 38v)

id. to Dalla Volta, Achille. June 30, 1538 (l. 39v)

id. to id. (l. 40v)

id. to n.r. (l. 40v)

id. to G.B. (l. 41.r)

id. to G.B. (l. 41.r)

id. to Blosio [Palladio] (l. 41v)

id. to n.r. (l. 42r)

id. to Bini, [Giovanni] Franc.[esco] (l. 42r)

id. to [Manetti] Latino Giovenale [de'] (l. 42v)

Tolomei, Claudio to Marchesa di Pescara [Colonna, Vittoria] [excerpt: Roma, May 7, 1533] (l. 43v)

Torre, Fr.[ancesco della] to Corner, Gian. September 15, 1538 (l. 43v)

id. to n.r. Verona, November 20, 1538 (l. 44r)

id. to n.r. Vicenza, March 10, 1538 (l. 44v)

id. to Vescovo di Viterbo [Ridolfi, Nicolò?] (l. 45v)

id. on behalf of Vescovo di Verona [Giberti, Gian Matteo] to Marchesa di Pescara [Vittoria Colonna] [ca. 1539] (l. 46v)

id. to Maffei, Bernardino. Verona, November 15, 1538 (l. 47r)

Cesano, Gabriele to Grimaldi, Stefano (l. 48r)

id. to Gambara, Veronica (l. 49v)

Gambara, Veronica to Gabriele Cesano (l. 49v)

id. to n.r. [Aretino, Pietro] (l. 50r)

Pericci, Benven[uto] to Gambara, Veronica (l. 50r)

id. to Presidenti della Camera Apostolica (l. 52r)

[Manetti] Latino Giovenale [de'] to n.r. (l. 53r)

Il Sipontino [Ciocchi del Monte, Giovanni Maria?] to Cardinal Trivulzio, [Agostino] (l. 53v)

id. to id. (l. 53v)

id. to Cardinal de Loreno [Lorraine, Charles de] (l. 54r)

id. to Re di Francia [Francis I]. March 20, 1539 (l. 55r)

Medici, Ippolito de' to Imperatore [Charles V]. Roma, June 2, 1532 (l. 55v)

id. to Re de Romani. (l. 55v)

id. to id. (l. 56r)

id. to Sig. Covos [Cobos, Francisco de los] (l. 56v)

id. to n.r. (l. 56v)

id. to Anton da Leva [Leyva, Antonio de] (l. 56v)

id. to Valeriano, Pierio (l. 57r)

id. to [id.] (l. 57v)

id. to [id.] (l. 58r)

id. to Canigiani, Domenico (l. 58r)

Bembo, Pietro to Giovio, Paolo, Bishop of Nocera. [Venezia, March 31, 1539] (l. 60v)

id. to Balleano, Giorgio. Venezia, April 4, 1539 (l. 61r)

id. to Corner, Andrea, Bishop of Brescia. [Venezia], April 5, 1539 (l. 61v)

Fracastoro, Girolamo to Bembo, Pietro. [Verona, March 5, 1539] (l. 62v)

Bembo, Pietro to Fracastoro, Girolamo. [Venezia], April 12 [i.e. 13], 1539 (l. 63r)

Cadinal de Salviati [Salviati, Giovanni] to M.M.F. Ferrara, December 24, 1540 (l. 63v)

Cardinal di Ravenna [Accolti, Benedetto] to M.M.F. Ferrara, December 24, 1540 (l. 64r)

Gri[mani], Marco to M.P.F. Jerusalem, September 3, 1535 (l. 64v)

id. to id. (l. 64v)

id. to id. Jerusalem, April 6, 1536 (l. 65r)

Giovio, Paolo to M.M.F. Roma, June 22, 1541 (l. 65v)

Vescovo di Verona [Giberti, Gian Matteo] to M.M.F. Verona, February 9, 1542 (l. 66r)

Rangone Pallavicino, Argentina to M.P.F. Modena, November 17, 1541 (l. 66.v)

Gambara, Veronica to Aretino, Pietro. Coreggio, October 26, 1536 (l. 67r)

id. to id. Coreggio, September 16, 1537 (l. 67v)

Da Lucca, Fran.[esco] to Aretino, Pietro. [Roma], November 8, 1540 (l. 68v)

Marchesa di Pescara [Colonna, Vittoria] to Dolce, Lodovico. Arpino, December 15, [1536] (l. 69r)

Marmitta, Giacomo to Dolce, Lodovico. Roma, December 13, 1538 (l. 70r)

id. to id. Roma, February 27, 1539 (l. 70v)

id. to id. Roma, March 7, 1540 (l. 71v)

[id.] to id. Padova, June 10, 1539 (l. 72v)

Bonfadio, Giacomo to Olivo, Camillo. Verona, September 22 [i.e.12], 1541 (l. 74r)

[id.] to id. Colognola, October 9, 1541 (l. 74v)

[id.] to Olivo, Volpino. Colognola, October 9, 1541 (l. 75r)

[id.] to Mons. di Brescia [Corner, Andrea]. Padova, December 9, 1541 (l. 75v)

Bichi, Annibale to n.r. [Foscari, Paolo?]. Padova, August 24, 1539 (l. 76r)

id. to [id.]. Castellottieri, November 14, 1540 (l. 77v)

id. to Foscari, Paolo. Padova, 23, 1540 (l. 78r)

id. to [id.]. Castellottieri, 6 (no month), 1541 (l. 79r)

Gonzaga, Ferrante to Re di Francia [Francis I]. Cremona, November 17, 1536 (l. 79v)

Fregoso, Cesare to Principe di Venegia [Lando, Pietro?]. Castelgiuffré, May 5, 1539 (l. 80v)

Card. Di Carpi [Pio, Rodolfo] to Reverendissimo di Tornone [Tournon, François de]. Nice, May 19, 1538 (l. 81v)

[Navò], Fabio Lelio to [Navò], Curtio Traiano (l. 82v)

id. to id. Roma, April 19, 1536 (l. 83v)

Christianissimo Re [Francis I] to Pope [Paul III]. March 9, 1536 (l. 85v)

Marchesa di Pescara [Colonna, Vittoria] to Contarini, Serafina. Viterbo, August 23, 1542 (l. 91v)

Marmitta, Giacomo to Dolce Lodovico. Coreggio, April 28, 1537 (l. 93r)

id. to id. Parma, August 1, 1538 (l. 93v)

id. to id. October 18, 1538 (l. 94v)

Tolomei, Claudio to Aretino Pietro. Roma, November 15, 1540 (l. 96v)

Martinengo, Fortunato to Dolce, Lodovico. Padova, December 23, 1541 (l. 98r)

Sansovino, Francesco to Dolce, Lodovico. Bologna, June 11, 1542 (l. 98v)

Little is known about the activities of Navò father and son. Of their over thirty printed works (mostly in the vernacular and sometimes pirated) the first one appeared apparently in 1537. Traiano father is mentioned in the last will of the mathematician Niccolò Tartaglia, who entrusted him with the publications of many of his works and nominated him administrator of his estate. His son Curzio Traiano was also active as a bookseller in Ragusa (Dalmatia). Their last book bears the date 1565 (cf. C. Marciani, Traiano Navò e suo figlio Curzio librai-editori del secolo XVI, in: “La Bibliofilia”, LXXII/1, 1970, pp. 49-60).

II. SANSOVINO:

Small 4to. (4), 83 [i.e. 79] leaves. *⁴, A-X⁴ (-X4, a blank?). Old vellum, annotations by a contemporary hand in the index and at the beginning of numerous letters summarizing their content.

Basso, p. 66; Edit 16, CNCE 59620; Quondam, pp. 311-312.

ORIGINAL EDITION of Sansovino's first extensive and original work. The volume is dedicated to the bishop of Saluzzo, Alfonso de' Tornabuoni, and contains 107 letters.

Among the recipients are some outstanding personalities of the time such as Bartolomeo Ammanati, Pietro Aretino, Annibal Caro, Bernardino Daniello, Lodovico Dolce, Donato Giannotti, Benedetto Varchi, and Giorgio Vasari (cf. E. Carrara, Francesco Sansovino letterato e intendente d'arte, in: “Arte Veneta”, 59, 2002, pp. 229-238).

Of the few extant copies of this rare work several different issues are known. The earliest one is certainly that dated 1542 with the printer's device on the title-page. Another stage is represented by copies also dated 1542 but without the printer's device. These are followed by copies dated MDLIII (1543) in which the third “I” in the date is printed over the dot at the end of the pre-existing MDLII. (1542) date.

A puzzle are also the last two signatures V and X. In our copy the last leaf in signature T (T4) is foliated 76, whereas the foliation in the first leaf (V1) of the following signature jumps to 81. Originally in the present issue leaf V4 was probably a blank, whereas in the earlier version it contained on the verso Costantini's mark. At a later moment Sansovino, unhappy with the many errors in the text, had printed on leaf V4, now foliated 84, some eighteen errata and a short address to the reader on the recto, and the correct readings of several passages on the verso. These are continued on leaf X1 (recto and verso) and on leaf X2 (only recto). There follows another address to the reader on the recto of the same leaf, which continues on the verso and on the recto of leaf X3. Leaf X4 was probably a blank in the issue without the printer's mark on the title-page, while in the version with the mark its verso was printed.

In the first address to the reader Sanvino remarks that he leaves it to the discretion of the reader to correct the many orthographical errors, while in the second address he accuses a not identified Florentine enemy of his, employed by the printer Costantini to correct his text while he was away from Venice, of deliberately mauling it to such an extend that he no longer recognized it. There are furthermore variants in the errors of the foliation and various changes or omissions in the text, which are described in detail by C. Roaf (see F. Sansovino, Le lettere sopra le dieci giornate del Decamerone di M. Giovanni Boccaccio, Bologna, 2003, pp. XXIX-XLIII).

The work is only loosely connected to the Decameron, it has the same division into ten days and every letter corresponds to one of Boccaccio's novels, but the theme of the letters not always corresponds to that in the novels. “Ben diverso è il taglio delle Lettere sopra le dieci giornate del Decamerone di M. Giovanni Boccaccio di Francesco Sansovino. Il titolo risponde assai poco al contenuto, in quanto solo episodicamente si parla del Boccaccio. In realtà Sansovino costruisce il libro sul proprio carteggio privato, caratterizzato da un pacato discorrere morale sulle proprie cose e le cose del mondo, secondo un'idea di lettera familiare nobilmente riflessiva, che è del resto la media di tutta l'epistolografia cinquecentesca. La divisione in dieci giornate intende probabilmente fare dell'epistolario un ritratto realistico di uomini e fatti, non in forma diegetica (come in Boccaccio) ma secondo le specificità del nuovo istrumento, attuale e moderno, della lettera risentita e seriamente atteggiata in penose analisi (che riguardano anche letteratura, filosofia, teologia, arti figurative, problemi editoriali, ecc.)” (G. Da Pozzo, Il Cinquecento, Milano, 2006, p. 1222).

Campesano, Alessandro (l. 1r)

Manetti, Antonio (l. 2r)

Thiene, Marco da (l. 3r)

Frate Ottaviano de S. (l. 3v)

Marchesana di Carrara [Pappafava, Lucrezia?] (l. 4r)

Pagnini, Sante (l. 6v)

Dalla Pieve, Goro (l. 7r)

Aretino, Pietro (l. 8r)

Re de Romani [Ferdinand I of Habsburg] (l. 9r)

Tornabuoni, Simon (l. 10r)

Madonna Costanza G. (l. 11v)

Gondi, Girolamo (l. 11v)

Lioni, Lodovico (l. 13r)

Bonfadio, Jacopo (l. 13r)

Botti, Simone (l. 13r)

Di Martino, Piero (l. 14r)

Malipiero, Ottaviano (l. 14v)

Medici, Vieri de' (l. 15r)

Fausto da Longiano, [Sebastiano] (l. 16r)

Cattani, Rocco (l. 17r)

Platone, Francesco (l. 17v)

Lanciarotta, Polisena (l. 18r)

Migli, Gian Francesco. Firenze, August 10, 1541 (l. 18v)

Quirino, Zaccheria. Bologna, March 26, 1541 (l. 19r)

Giustiniano, Francesco (l. 19v)

Priolo, Francesco (l. 21r)

Bardi, Luigi de' (l. 12v)

Dolce, Lodovico (l. 26r)

Rimbotti, Carlo (l. 27v)

Bianco, Jacopo (l. 29r)

Pompei, Giulio (l. 29v)

Franchini, Cesare (l. 31r)

Benivieni, Beatrice (l. 32r)

Rangone Pallavicina, Argentina (l. 32v)

Scapucci, Cosimo (l. 34r)

Rigogli, Antonio (l. 34v)

Solico, Aurelio (l. 35v)

Flischi, Scipion de' (l. 36v)

Allegretti, Antonio (l. 37r)

Daniello, Bernardino (l. 38r)

Alberghetti, Cesare (l. 39r)

Badoaro, Federico (l. 40r)

Segni, Fabio (l. 40v)

Madonna Antonia di M. (l. 41r)

Coccio, Francesco (l. 41v)

[Vasari] Aretino, Giorgio (l. 62v)

Vallubio, Antonio (l. 43r)

Dini, Agostino (l. 43v)

Pasqualigo, Marin (l. 44v)

Martelli, Vincenzo (l. 45v)

Lioni, Francesco (l. 46r)

Lotti, Lorenzo (l. 46v)

Alamanni, Giambattista (l. 47r)

Romano, Porzio Lucilio (l. 48r)

Lucrezia B. (l. 48v)

Manuzi, Manuzio (l. 48r)

Accorambono, Felice (l. 50v)

Genga, Bartolomeo (l. 51r)

Martelli, Sigismondo (l. 52r)

Giallo, Jacopo (l. 52v)

Angeni, Filippo (l. 54r)

Frescobaldi, Paolo (l. 54v)

Baccelli, Girolamo (l. 54v)

Franchini, Lattanzio (l. 55r)

Taddei, Giovanni (l. 55r)

Colomba, Faustina della (l. 55v)

Bartolini, Bartolomeo (l. 56r)

Fabrini, Piero (l. 57r)

Antinori, Amerigo (l. 57v)

Veniero, Domenico (l. 58v)

Botti, Matteo (l. 58v)

Tornabuoni, Alfonso de' (l. 59r)

Martini, Luca (l. 59v)

Dini, Pietro (l. 60r)

Soncini, Domenico (l. 60r)

Ammanati, Bartolomeo (l. 60v)

Madonna Francesca de L.F. (l. 61r)

Da Lucca, Antonio (l. 61r)

Giannotti, Donato (l. 62r)

[Grazzini, Antonfrancesco] called Il Lasca (l. 62v)

Petrarci, [Francesco] (l. 63r)

Belfratelli, Odoardo (l. 64r)

Lomellino, Benedetto (l. 65v)

Alle valorose e piacevoli donne (to the valiant and gracious ladies) (l. 66r)

Montevarchi, [Antonio] Francesco da (l. 67v)

Pitti, Lorenzo (l. 67v)

Cavalcanti, Bernardo (l. 68r)

Madonna Fiammetta de F. (l. 68v)

Grimaldi, Emanuel (l. 69r)

Da Lucca, Lorenzo (l. 69v)

Lottieri, Tommaso (l. 70v)

Torello, Francesco (l. 71r)

Pitti, Jacopo (l. 71v)

Lottini, Apardo (l. 72r)

Armano, Luigi d' (l. 72r)

Agrippa, Pietro (l. 72v)

Broccardo, Fausto (l. 72v)

Alle vedove (to the windows) (l. 73r)

Madonna Costanza S. (l. 73r)

Varchi, Benedetto (l. 73v)

Piccolomini, Alessandro (l. 74v)

Spira, Fortunio (l. 75v)

Caro, Annibal (l. 76r)

Barbaro, Daniello (l. 76v)

Gabrielli, Trifone (l. 81r)

Cornelia degl'Ad. (l. 81v)

Martelli, Sigismondo (l. 82r)

Francesco Sansovino was born at Rome to the sculptor Jacopo Tatti (Sansovino). In the aftermath of the Sack of Rome, father and son left Rome for Venice. After a youthful study of letters including Greek, Francesco obeyed his father and studied law in Padua, Florence, and Bologna. Unhappy with law he quarrelled with his father and began to write poetry and imaginative vernacular literature in the 1540s. In 1550 Jacopo, still desirous that his son should travel the road to wealth and position, arranged for an appointment at the papal court. But Francesco disliked courtly intrigue and after a brief period returned to Venice. In 1553 he married a Venetian girl of good but non-noble family and settled down to a tranquil life of study and writing.

Francesco Sansovino typifies the figures who moved in the editorial circles of the period. A polygraph author of poetry, prose writings on literature, history and rhetoric, as well as a translator and editor, Sansovino not only compiled, translated, and annotated text for Venetian printers, he even opened his own printing house, publishing around thirty editions, many of good quality, between 1560-62 and in 1568. Especially his historical works were widely read by his contemporaries. His encyclopaedic description of his adopted city, Venetia, città nobilisima et singolare, descritta in XIIII libri (1581), is a useful source for descriptions of churches, works of art, personalities, famous events, and customs of the time. He also wrote a history of the Turks in Europe, Annali Turcheschi (1568), a history of illustrious Italian families Origini e fatti delle famiglie illustri d'Italia (1582), a treatise in seven books on the art of writing letters Il Secretario (1564), as well as a book on the government of kingdoms and republics Del governo dei regni e delle republiche (1561). Sansovino also found time for writing literary criticism, including studies of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Bembo, and Sannazaro (cf. E. Bonora, Ricerche su Francesco Sansovino imprenditore librario e letterato, Venezia, 1994, passim).

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