An Introduction to the Italian Language. Containing specimens both of Prose and verse. . . with a literal translation and grammatical notes, for the use of those who, being already acquainted with grammar, attempt to learn it without a master.
Printed for A. Millar, London:, 1755. Item #1311 8vo. 210 x 130 mm., [8 x 5 ¼ inches]. xi, 467 pp. Bound in contemporary speckled calf, double gilt fillet borders on both boards, spine with five raised bands; paper label with title partially missing and another paper label with the inventory number “700” at the top of the spine. Corners very slightly bumped, edges a bit rubbed. Manuscript table of contents in contemporary hand on back free end leaf, a few manuscript notes in the text. Very good copy. First edition. Giuseppi Baretti’s (1719-1789) contribution to English literature was based on his ability to bring Italian culture to the educated classes in Great Britain. His book, An Introduction to the Italian Language was extremely successful because it offered both English and Italian translations which introduced the English public to original works by Italian poets, playwrights, politicians, historians, and scientists. Included are original texts by Galileo, Francesco Redi, Annibale Caro, Rafaello da Urbino, Francesco Guicciardini, Niccoló Machiavelli, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Lorenzo de’Medici, Margherita di Valois and others. An Introduction was third in a series of four books on Italian culture that Baretti published between 1753 and 1757. The first was his Remarks on Italian Language and Writers. This was followed by a Dissertation on Italian Poetry, a text much influenced in style and language by his relationship with Samuel Johnson. The final book in the quartet was The Italian Library, which was a kind of bio-bibliography of the greatest writers in Italian history. In 1760 Baretti published his extremely successful Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages, a work that capitalized on Johnson’s Dictionary (1755) and copied its format and lexicography.
W. P. Courtney and D. Nichol Smith, A Bibliography of Samuel Johnson, by W. P. Courtney p. 73. R. W. Chapman and A. T. Hazen, A Bibliography of Samuel Johnson, p. 139. Mario Fubini, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 6, 1964. Desmond O’Connor, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004).
Price: $1,350.00