Jacopo Benito Bossuet - Massime, e riflessioni sopra la Comedia - 1730

Massimes, and reflections on Bossuet’s comedy, in the Italian translation published in Venice by Giovanni Gabriello Hertz in 1730.

[79]. 8*

Book in good condition, parchment cover with handwritten title on the spine, inner pages with damp stains and browning not excessive.

It is the Italian version of Maximes et réflexions sur la comédie, originally published in Paris by Jean Anisson in 1694. The term “comédie” here indicates theater and stage performances in a broad sense.

The work arises from the controversy over the morality of the theater. The religious friar Francesco Caffaro had supported positions favorable to the possibility of admitting performances; Bossuet reacted with severe criticism, which he then developed in this treatise.

The central point is the effect of representation on the spectator: according to Bossuet, showing passions in a pleasant and engaging way can inflame them even in the observer. His critique thus concerns the emotional power of the spectacle, in addition to the content of the texts. It is a significant document of the confrontation between theatrical culture and religious discipline in seventeenth-century France.

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, born in Dijon on September 27, 1627 and died on April 12, 1704, was a theologian, preacher and writer. He became tutor to the Dauphin of France in 1670 and a member of the Académie française in 1671. He is famous especially for his sermons and funeral orations, the Discours sur l’histoire universelle and writings of religious controversy, including those against Fénelon on Quietism.

Known as the “Eagle of Meaux,” he was bishop of that city from 1681 to 1704. His activity united literary eloquence with the defense of Catholic doctrine and discipline.

The volume is of interest mainly to those who collect theatre history, polemics about performances, and Italian translations of French authors. The presence of the edition in historical collections documents its circulation, but it is not enough by itself to define its rarity.

I would not yet attribute the label of “Italian first edition”: it is necessary to delve into the succession of translations. The specialized bibliography also notes a Luccan edition at Nicolao Mencacci.