Lettere di [...], Secretario già di D. Ferrante Gonzaga in Milano: poi del Re Catholico, appresso gli altri Governatori, et Capitani Generali in quello stato, et in Italia

8vo. (8), 215, (1) leaves. a⁸, A-Z⁸, Aa-Dd⁸. The leaves a7, a8 and Dd8 are blank. With the printer's device on the title-page. Entries of ownership on the title-page by Carolus de Bonfilijs and Blasius Parallius. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on the spine.

Adams, G-888; Edit 16, CNCE 21482; Basso, pp. 326-327; Quondam, p. 298.

FIRST EDITION published posthumously by Bartolomeo Ichino and dedicated by him to Don Luis de Castilla (Milano, January 1, 1592).

“Recueil postume de 230 lettres, dans lequel se mêlent les lettres personelles de Goselini, 9 lettres qu'on lui addresse ou qui parlent de lui et des ses ouvrages, et 6 lettres au moins qu'il écrit au nom d'autrui. Les 2 lettres les plus anciennes sont de 1547 et de 1550, mais le plus grand nombre est postérieur à 1570; la plus tardive est du 24 décembre 1586. Le classement semble déterminé par des efforts faits dans des voies différentes: ordre chronologique, groups de lettres sur des sujets semblables ou sur une même affaire, séries de lettres à un même destinataire comme ces 21 lettres exceptionnellement intitulées XXII [sic] lettere all'Illustre Signor Annibal Guasco, ou ces dizaines de lettres à un reverend anonyme, parent et ami de Goselini; mais aucun n'aboutit vraiment. Le compilateur s'est peut-être contenté de mettre bout à bout les paquets de lettres dans l'ordre où ils lui parviennent” (J. Basso, Le genre épistolaire en langue italienne (1538-1662). Répertoire chronologique et analytique, Roma & Nancy, 1990, p. 326).

“Eppure […] il primo volume, se non erro, che issi nel frontespizio la condizione di segretario del suo autore è quello delle Lettere scritte (a suo nome o a nome d'altri?) da Giuliano Goselini, edito nel 1592, ‘Secretario già di D. Ferrante Gonzaga in Milano: poi del Re Catholico, appresso gli altri Governatori, et Capitani Generali in quello stato, et in Italia': è privo della divisione per ‘capi' e conserva, in molte lettere, sia la data che il nome del destinatario e del luogo” (A. Quondam, Dal “formulario” al “formulario”: cento anni di “libri di lettere”, in: “Le ‘carte messaggiere'. Retorica e modelli di comunicazione epistolare: per un indice dei libri di lettere del Cinquecento”, Roma, 1981, pp. 123-124).

Gonzaga, Cesare, Prince of Molfetta. Milano, May 20, 1573 (l. 1r)

Don John of Austria on the account of Sande, Àlvaro de. Milano (l. 4r)

Gonzaga, Ottavio. Milano, August 17, 1577 (l. 4v)

id. Milano (l. 5r)

Brembato, Giovanni Battista. Milano (l. 7r)

Figini, Giovanni Antonio (l. 9r)

Gonzaga, Alessandro. Milano, September 20, 1576 (l. 10v)

Castiglioni, Alessandro. Milano (l. 11v)

Carcano, Giovanni Battista. Milano (l. 12v)

Amalteo, Giovanni Battista. (l. 13v)

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Zane, Pietro. Milano (l. 39r)

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Tizzone, Carlo Clemente. Milano (l. 40r)

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Delfino, Nicolò. Milano (l. 41v)

Visconti, [Galeazzo?]. Milano (l. 42r)

[Gallio, Tolomeo], called Cardinal of Como. Milano (l. 42v)

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Malchiodi, Paolo. Milano (l. 43v)

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Medici, [Ferdinando?] de', Cardinal on the account of [Aragona, Carlo d'], Duke of Terranuova. Milano (l. 51v)

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n.r. (l. 93v)

[Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona, Antonio, Duke of Sessa?], Catholic Ambassador in Rome. Milano (l. 94r)

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[Gallio, Tolomeo], called Cardinal of Como. Milano, May 21, 1585 (l. 100v)

[Philip II of Spain] on the account of Toso, [Giovanni]. (l. 101v)

[Farnese, Ottavio], Duke of Parma. Milano (l. 102v)

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[Medici, Francesco I de'], Grand Duke of Tuscany. Milano, June, 1582 (l. 104v)

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[Farnese, Alessandro], Prince of Parma. Milano, [1586] (l. 118v)

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Chiariti, Domenico. Villa, October 1, 1585 (l. 133v)

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Savoia, [Carlo Emanuele di] on the account of Toso, Giovanni. Pisa, February, 1585 (l. 144r)

[Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona, Antonio, Duke of Sessa?], Ambassador in Rome. Milano (l. 145r)

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from Toso, Giovanni, n.r. Firenze (l. 205r)

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Grasso, Francesco, Governor of Bologna. Milano, February 13, 1565 (l. 211r)

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id. Milano, April 27, 1547 (l. 213r)

n.r. Villa, October 28, 1585 (l. 213v)

Crasso, [Francesco], Cardinal. Milano, March 16, 1565 (l. 214v)

The little we know about the early years and the education of Giuliano Goselini (or Gosellini) is told by his friend, the poet Francesco Melchiori in the Sommario della vita del signor Giuliano Goselini, which the latter had published at Venice in 1588, soon after his friend's death, together with the fifth edition of Goselini's Rime.

Goselini was born in Rome in 1525 and at the age of two moved to Nizza Monferrato, his father's hometown. At fourteen he came back to Rome and was welcomed in the family of the cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, nephew of pope Paul III. In 1542 he is found as chancellor at the service of the prince of Molfetta and viceroy of Sicily, Ferrante Gonzaga. In 1546 Gonzaga was elected general governor of the Duchy of Milan and Goselini followed him as secretary and from 1550 on he was appointed secretary of the Secret Chancellery.

In Milan he made the acquaintance of other literati connected to that court like Leone Leoni, Luca Contile, and Girolamo Muzio, and became a member of the local Accademia dei Fenici. When Gonzaga was removed from the government of Milan in 1554, Goselini could keep his office in the chancellery thanks to his reputation as a poet and his good relationships with Gonzaga's two main opponents, Diego de Vargas and Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of Arras. But at the same time he was also able to remain in good terms with Gonzaga and his family (the sons Cesare and Ferrante, and the grandson Ferrante II) for the rest of his life.

Between 1556 and 1557 Goselini visited Philipp II's court in Brussels to consolidate his position in Milan, but in 1558 he lost his office. Through the intervention of Cesare Gonzaga, he was soon after rehabilitated and won the favour of the new governor, Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, who in 1560 wanted him at his side during a long sojourn at the Spanish court.

In August 1567 Goselini was involved in a dubious plot and imprisoned by order of governor Gabriel de la Cueva, Duke of Alburquerque. With the help of Cesare Gonzaga and Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy, in June 1568, he was finally released and acquitted of all accusation. In 1572 he published the first edition of his successful Rime, followed a year later by a volume with a commentary to them (Dichiaratione di alcuni componimenti del S. Giuliano Gosellini). In 1574 he issued his main historical work, Vita del principe don Ferrante Gonzaga, a tribute to his patron and benefactor. Goselini died in Milan in February 1587 (cf. F. Pagella, Un poligrafo alessandrino del Cinquecento: Giuliano Goselini, in: “Rivista di storia, arte, archeologia per la provincia di Alessandria”, XXXII, 1923, pp. 3-39).

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