Dizionario delle Lingue Italiana, ed Inglese. Accresciuto di piu di diecimila Vocaboli omessi dall’Alteri, e corredato d’una Grammatica delle due Lingue. Seconda edizione veneta diligentemente riveduta, ricorretta, e riordinata.
Venezia: Presso Orlandelli per la Dita del fù Francesco di Niccolò Pezzana, 1795. Item #1313 Dictionary of the Italian and English Languages. Increased by more than ten thousand words omitted by Alteri, and accompanied by a Grammar of the two Languages. Second Venetian edition diligently revised, corrected, and reorganized. Two volumes. 4to. 255 x 195 mm., [10 x 7 ½ inches]. xxxii, 671, [1] pp; xxxv, [1], 674, [2] pp. Bound in contemporary speckled calf spines and corner tips over decorated paper, five raised bands and two leather labels; some minor abrasions to the edges and boards, some expert restoration to the head of the spines; generally, a sound and very attractive copy. Second Venetian edition. The original edition of Baretti’s highly successful Dictionary was published in London in 1760, followed by editions in 1771, 1778, and 1790. The first Italian edition, also printed in Venice by Pezzana appeared in 1787, two years before Baretti’s death in 1789. The edition offered for sale is a reprint of the 1787 edition and appears, based on locations in American and European libraries, to have been a colossal success The last edition of Baretti’s dictionary that appeared was published as recently as 1928 In the preface, Baretti is merciless in his assessment of the lexicographic work of Ferdinando Altieri, whose Italian-English Dictionary appeared in London in 1726-27 and went through numerous edition. It became the standard work and Baretti meant to supersede it and demonstrate his prowess in both English and Italian. Baretti’s claimed “that his predecessor's dictionary definitions awakened his 'risibility' and were evidence of his 'ignorance', and that Altieri himself 'had not the least spark of poetical fire in his soul'.” According to the title-page Baretti added ten thousand new words, revised definitions, and reorganized the structure of the work to reflect the advancements that Johnson established in his 1755 Dictionary. Baretti’s time in London during the 1750’s was extremely productive, and he established himself as the leading interpreter of Italian literature and customs for the English public. In 1753 he published Remarks on Italian Language and Writers. The was followed by his Dissertation on Italian Poetry, An Introduction to the Italian Language (1755) and The Italian Library (1757). The remainder of the decade was spent studying Johnson methodology and writing definitions and grammar points for his 1760 publication.
Ernest Hatch Wilkins. A History of Italian Literature, p. 361-62. ). Desmond O’Connor, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004).
Price: $850.00