Extracts from Italian Prose Writers for the Use of Students in the London University.
London: Printed for John Taylor by George Smith of Liverpool, 1828. Item #1196 12mo. 160 x 100 mm., (6 ¼ x 4 inches]. [11], 558 pp. Bound in half green calf, leather tips, marbled paper boards, gilt spine, red leather label; edges rubbed and a bit bumped, otherwise sound. This copy with the 19th century bookplate of Sir Thos. William Boord, the first Baronet of Wakehurst Place I the County of Sussex First edition of Antonio Panizzi’s (1797-1879) first publication after moving to London from Liverpool in 1828. He first arrived in England in 1823 after being condemned to death by the Metternich regime which controlled much of the north of Italy after the demise of the French. At the time Panizzi was accused of being member of the Carbonaro a group opposed to the rule of Austria over Italy. In that year after leaving Italy for Switzerland he published a pamphlet entitled Dei Processi e delle Sentenze, which criticized the harsh treatment of the political opposition in Modena His sentence drove him to leave the continent and seek refuge in England. Panizzi’s degree in law from the University of Parma was recognized by many of the members of the liberal class that he was introduced to upon his arrival in England and in 1828. Through the patronage of Lord Henry Brougham and others he was appointed Chair of Italian Language and Literature at the London University. He was charged with teaching Italian literature, and he wrote this book, containing lengthy extracts in the Italian language by both contemporary and classical Italian authors. The list includes Vittorio Alfieri, Francesco Algarotti, Giuseppe Baretti, Pietro Bembo, Giovanni Boccaccio, Ugo Foscolo, Galileo Galilei, Gasparo Gozzi, Niccolò Machiavelli, Alessandro Manzoni, Torquato Tasso, and Giorgio Vasari, to name a few authors represented in his book. In the Introduction, Panizzi’s writes that one of the purposes of this book was to challenge the English prejudice against the Italian character by teaching the language and sentiment of the Italian people though its literature. , “The works daily published upon the customs, laws, and institutions of Italy, and the unjust reflections with which they abound, evince so imperfect an acquaintance with these subjects, that it seems impossible not to believe but that, independently of other causes, ignorance of the language for the country has contributed in a high degree to produce that general incorrectness of facts upon which so many superficial observations are founded.”
Louis Fagan. The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B. Late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, Senator of Italy. . . pp., 72-74. Edward Miller. Prince of Librarians: The Life & Times of Antionio Panizzi of the British Museum, pp 68-72.
Price: $500.00