This article aims to focus on the activity of an important Venetian publisher-editor, Paolo Manuzio, the son of Aldo, who, while resuming his father’s profession, also pursued his intent of becoming a well-known author. More specifically, the article analyses Paolo Manuzio’s contribution to a specific genre, a genre to which he had already contributed as a publisher-editor, that of vernacular epistolary collections. The genre had shown great dynamism and success between the beginning of the 1540s and the end of the 1550s, and Manuzio had edited and published the most important epistolary anthology of the 16th century, the Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini et eccellentissimi ingegni scritte in diverse materie, come out in three successive volumes, with the first published in 1542, the second in 1545 and the third in 1564, and had reached a total of 28 editions before 1567. Between 1556 and 1560 Paolo Manuzio focused his efforts on becoming an author. This is confirmed by the collections of his Latin and vernacular letters which Manuzio edited between 1556 and 1560. This essay examines the books of Letters written and published by Manuzio in 1556 and in 1560 and precisely the editions with the title Tre libri di Lettere Volgari and Lettere volgari di M. Paolo Manutio divise in Quattro libri, bearing titles which clearly refer to the anthology which had made him famous: the Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini. The aim is to analyse the two editions and the conditioning exerted by the cultural , social, political and religious world in which the author lived and worked selecting his letters. Analysing the second edition (1560) is possible to explore the authorial self-censorship. The changes that Paolo made were two-fold. First are foremost, he updated the contents to include events of the intervening three years, and secondly he exercised a measure of self-censorship, omitting certain letters that contained considerations on the most private aspects of his life and that of his relatives, as well as those addressed to men whose religious beliefs had become suspect and were under investigation by the Inquisition for heterodoxy (Francesco Porto, Pietro Carnesecchi). The result was a publication in which Paolo presented himself more effectively than previously as an excellent humanist publisher who had relationships with important intellectuals, prelates and politicians of the time, and who was preparing himself to receive the appointment which would change his life: head of the Papal printing house, planned for June 1561.

From the Printer’s Mind to the Author’s Hand: Paolo Manuzio and His Tre libri di lettere volgari (1556–1560) / L. Braida (WARBURG INSTITUTE COLLOQUIA). - In: The Afterlife of Aldus : Posthumous Fame, Collectors and the Book Trade / [a cura di] J. Kraye, P. Sachet. - London : The Warburg Institute, 2018. - ISBN 9781908590558. - pp. 11-28 (( convegno Theafterlnofe of Aldus : Posthumous Fame, Collectors and the Book Trade tenutosi a London nel 2015.

From the Printer’s Mind to the Author’s Hand: Paolo Manuzio and His Tre libri di lettere volgari (1556–1560)

L. Braida
2018

Abstract

This article aims to focus on the activity of an important Venetian publisher-editor, Paolo Manuzio, the son of Aldo, who, while resuming his father’s profession, also pursued his intent of becoming a well-known author. More specifically, the article analyses Paolo Manuzio’s contribution to a specific genre, a genre to which he had already contributed as a publisher-editor, that of vernacular epistolary collections. The genre had shown great dynamism and success between the beginning of the 1540s and the end of the 1550s, and Manuzio had edited and published the most important epistolary anthology of the 16th century, the Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini et eccellentissimi ingegni scritte in diverse materie, come out in three successive volumes, with the first published in 1542, the second in 1545 and the third in 1564, and had reached a total of 28 editions before 1567. Between 1556 and 1560 Paolo Manuzio focused his efforts on becoming an author. This is confirmed by the collections of his Latin and vernacular letters which Manuzio edited between 1556 and 1560. This essay examines the books of Letters written and published by Manuzio in 1556 and in 1560 and precisely the editions with the title Tre libri di Lettere Volgari and Lettere volgari di M. Paolo Manutio divise in Quattro libri, bearing titles which clearly refer to the anthology which had made him famous: the Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini. The aim is to analyse the two editions and the conditioning exerted by the cultural , social, political and religious world in which the author lived and worked selecting his letters. Analysing the second edition (1560) is possible to explore the authorial self-censorship. The changes that Paolo made were two-fold. First are foremost, he updated the contents to include events of the intervening three years, and secondly he exercised a measure of self-censorship, omitting certain letters that contained considerations on the most private aspects of his life and that of his relatives, as well as those addressed to men whose religious beliefs had become suspect and were under investigation by the Inquisition for heterodoxy (Francesco Porto, Pietro Carnesecchi). The result was a publication in which Paolo presented himself more effectively than previously as an excellent humanist publisher who had relationships with important intellectuals, prelates and politicians of the time, and who was preparing himself to receive the appointment which would change his life: head of the Papal printing house, planned for June 1561.
Paolo Manuzio; authorship; epistolary collections; self-Censorship; heterodoxy
Settore M-STO/08 - Archivistica, Bibliografia e Biblioteconomia
Settore M-STO/02 - Storia Moderna
2018
Warburg Institute
Book Part (author)
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/557545
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