Barotti - Prose Italiane - 1770

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BAROTTI’S FERRARA: THE FIRST EDITION OF HIS ITALIAN PROSE, 1770
First edition of the great collection of Giovanni Andrea Barotti’s Italian prose, a central figure in 18th-century Ferrara culture. Two volumes that bring together literary, scholarly, moral, historical writings, letters and orations, many of which were previously unpublished. Among the texts are pages devoted to Ferrara, to the condition of women, to dowry and to the city’s cultural tradition. Of particular interest are the writings related to the Academy of the Fearless and the biography of Ludovico Ariosto. A genuine, margin-centered and untrimmed copy, preserved in the characteristic rustic eighteenth-century bindings.

ABSTRACT
Giovanni Andrea Barotti, Prose italiane, Ferrara, Stamperia Camerale, 1770. First edition of the collection of Barotti’s edited and unpublished prose, published in three volumes and here presented in the first two. The work provides a significant panorama of Ferrara’s eighteenth-century intellectual life, bringing together academic reasoning, letters, orations, moral and literary writings, and texts dedicated to the city’s history and culture. The photographs document, among others, the argument Sopra l’intrinseca ragione del proverbio, the discourse Delle chiome bionde, e ciglia nere d’Alcina, the funeral oration for Cardinal Giovanbattista Barni, the discourse Dell’indole di Ferrara and that of Della dote. First edition, unfortunately lacking the third and final volume.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST EDITION – First edition of 1770 of the organic collection of Giovanni Andrea Barotti’s Prose italiane.
ARIOSTO AND FERRARA – Work closely tied to Ferrara’s culture, including important literary contributions, including a biographical piece on Ludovico Ariosto.
WOMEN, SOCIETY AND CUSTOMS – Particularly curious and collectible are the writings dedicated to women, female beauty, dowry, customs and eighteenth-century society.
UNSOPHISTICATED COPY – Margin-centered, untrimmed copy preserved in rustic contemporaneous boards: features especially valued in an eighteenth-century book.

MARKET VALUE
€380–500. The first edition, the untrimmed state, the contemporaneous bindings and the typographic quality sustain the book’s bibliographic interest. However, the absence of the third volume constitutes an important limitation and prevents attributing the full value of a complete set.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Rough, contemporary board binding with marbled paper, with paper washers applied to the spine and shaped to indicate title and volume number. Vols I-II of III: incomplete work, missing the third and final volume. First title page printed in red and black, with a woodcut device; numerous initial capitals, headers, and woodcut ornaments in the text. Good quality paper, wide margins and untrimmed edges preserved. Some wear to the bindings; a stain at the lower margin of the first half of the second volume; small defects, creases and marginal irregularities compatible with untrimmed condition. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp.:
Vol. I: (2); 12; 2nn; 360; (2).
Vol. II: (2); 2nn; 320.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Prose italiane.
Ferrara, nella Stamperia Camerale, 1770.
Giovanni Andrea Barotti.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Prose italiane represent a significant testimony to Ferrara’s literary and scholarly culture in the 18th century. Barotti collects in these volumes texts composed over many years and on various occasions, turning the collection into a panorama of the city’s intellectual life. Literature, morality, philosophy, customs, local history and academic rhetoric coexist within the work. The relationship with the Academy of the Intrepid of Ferrara is particularly important. Several texts preserve explicit memories of the occasions on which they were delivered: Sopra l’intrinseca ragione del proverbio was presented to the Academy on February 16, 1729; Delle chiome bionde, e ciglia nere d’Alcina on February 16, 1746; Dell’indole di Ferrara on February 9, 1735; Della dote on February 17, 1751. The collection thus directly documents the activity of Italian academies as places of literary, social and philosophical discussion. The work Delle chiome bionde, e ciglia nere d’Alcina also reveals the lasting weight of Ariosto’s legacy in Ferrara’s culture. Barotti was a student of Ludovico Ariosto and the collection includes material devoted to the great Orlando furioso poet. Other texts address topics of particular interest today for social history, such as marriage, dowry, the representation of women and the 18th-century aristocratic customs.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Giovanni Andrea Barotti (1701–1772) was a Ferrara-based writer, scholar and librarian, active in one of the most vibrant cultural environments of 18th-century Italy. His work ranged from literary criticism to local history, from academic rhetoric to studies on Italian poetic tradition. Notable were his studies on Ludovico Ariosto and Ferrara’s culture. Barotti was also deeply embedded in the city’s academic life, as shown by the numerous discourses delivered at the Academy of the Intrepid and later collected in the Prose italiane. His work today provides a valuable source not only for literary history but also for reconstructing Ferrara’s cultural, ecclesiastical and aristocratic networks during the papal period.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Prose italiane were published in Ferrara in 1770 by the Stamperia Camerale in three volumes. The frontispiece of the first volume, printed in red and black, presents the work as dedicated to Giammaria Riminaldi, Ferrarese patrician and auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota. The collection included both works previously published separately and new compositions, reorganized by the author into a single publication. The initial notice explicitly states the intention to offer a “new Edition” of the prose already circulated together with other texts, some of which had not previously been published. The result is a bibliographically interesting collection also because it brings together materials originally tied to specific academic and celebratory occasions. This copy contains only the first two of the original three volumes. Such incompleteness must be clearly declared, but the two volumes retain autonomous interest thanks to the large amount of writings contained and their genuine eighteenth-century editorial form.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / SBN: Giovanni Andrea Barotti, Prose italiane, Ferrara, Stamperia Camerale, 1770, edition in three volumes.
EDIT16 not applicable, being an 18th-century publication.
WorldCat: bibliographic records of Prose italiane by Giovanni Andrea Barotti, Ferrara, Stamperia Camerale, 1770.
Ferrarese catalogs and bibliographic guides related to Giovanni Andrea Barotti, the Academy of the Intrepidi and the Stamperia Camerale.
Biographical and bibliographic indexes of 18th-century Italian literature for Giovanni Andrea Barotti and his studies on Ludovico Ariosto.