Cherubini - Vocabolario Milanese-Italiano - 1839-1843

MILAN'S LOST WORDS: THE MONUMENTAL VOCABULARY THAT ENCHANTED MANZONI
An extraordinary testimony of the language, culture, and popular traditions of Milan in the 19th century, gathered in one of the most important Italian dialect dictionaries. Published in Milan between 1839 and 1843, Francesco Cherubini’s monumental Vocabolario preserves thousands of words, expressions, proverbs, and terms related to Lombard daily life. It is an work consulted and studied even by Alessandro Manzoni during his linguistic research for The Betrothed. Four elegant volumes in half-leather bindings, with gilded titles and marbled boards, including the Additions and Corrections and preserved in remarkably fresh condition.

ABSTRACT
Important expanded second edition of Francesco Cherubini’s Milanese-Italian Dictionary (1789–1851), published in Milan at the Imperial Royal Printing House between 1839 and 1843. The work represents one of the most extensive and authoritative lexicographic compendia devoted to the Milanese dialect, the fruit of decades of linguistic research, documentary collections, and observations on everyday language use. Structured in four volumes, the dictionary records thousands of vocabulary items, phrases, idioms, proverbs, technical terms, and popular denominations, providing Italian equivalents and numerous explanations. Cherubini aimed to offer a tool capable of facilitating the passage from Milanese vernacular to the national language, while simultaneously making the linguistic and cultural particularities of the region accessible to non-Lombard readers. The collection also includes an important section of Additions and Corrections to the Dictionary, followed by the List of Associated Gentlemen, a precious testimony to the work’s diffusion in the cultural circles of the time. Of extraordinary interest is the relationship with Alessandro Manzoni, who owned and annotated a copy of this same edition, using it in his reflections on the Italian language. A fundamental work for the history of dialectology, lexicography, and Lombard culture.

WHY TO BUY
A work of notable collectible and documentary interest, considered one of the greatest monuments of 19th-century Italian dialect lexicography. The main value lies in the exceptional breadth of the linguistic heritage gathered, which preserves not only traditional Milanese vocabulary but also numerous testimonies of Lombardy’s preindustrial crafts, agriculture, commerce, and domestic activities. Particularly important is the relationship with Alessandro Manzoni, who studied Cherubini’s dictionary in depth and annotated a copy, now held at the National Library of the Brera in Milan. The dictionary thus also serves as a tool to comprehend the 19th-century debate on the formation of the Italian language and the differences between regional use and Tuscan usage. The proposed copy is distinguished by the presence of all four volumes published during the author’s life, the Additions and Corrections, and the List of Associated Gentlemen. The elegant half-leather bindings with gilded decorations, the marbled boards, the sprinkled edges, and the notable freshness of the paper enhance its appeal. The absence of the posthumous 1856 supplement does not compromise the alphabetical integrity of the main dictionary, but it makes the collection incomplete relative to the definitive five-volume editorial configuration. A particularly suitable work for specialized libraries, collectors of Milanese history, linguistics scholars, dialectologists, and Italian literature.

MARKET VALUE
The Milanese-Italian Dictionary by Francesco Cherubini holds an important position in the antiquarian market for linguistic works and Lombard local history. Its commercial value depends mainly on completeness, the quality of bindings, internal conservation, and the presence of the posthumous 1856 supplement. The 1839–1843 second edition is more sought after than the 1814 first edition due to its breadth, having been significantly enlarged and reworked. A complete collection of the five volumes, including the supplement, in good condition with uniform bindings, can be roughly valued between 500 and 800 euros in the specialist antiquarian market. For the described copy, comprising the four main volumes, the Additions and Corrections, and the List of Associated Gentlemen, but missing the 1856 supplement, an indicative commercial range is between 600 and 800 euros.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Half-leather bindings with titles and gilded ornaments on the spines, boards covered in marbled paper, and sprinkled edges. Text set in two columns, with Milanese lemmas, Italian equivalents, lexical explanations, examples, and idioms. The four volumes fully cover the alphabet: I, A–C; II, D–L; III, M–Q; IV, R–Z. The copy preserves the entire alphabetical dictionary published between 1839 and 1843, complete with the Additions and Corrections in the fourth volume. Overall collation according to the provided data: Volume I, 1839: L; (2); 388, total 440 pages. Volume II, 1840: 428 pages. Volume III, 1841: (4); 448, total 452 pages. Volume IV, 1843: (4); 556; (4); 140; (8), total 712 pages, including the Additions and Corrections to the Dictionary and the List of Associated Gentlemen. In old books with a multilingual history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing includes AI Visualizations. Please refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Francesco Cherubini.
Vocabolario Milanese-Italiano di Francesco Cherubini.
Milano, dall'Imperiale Regia Stamperia, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1843.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Milanese-Italian Dictionary was born in a decisive period for the linguistic history of Italy, when the peninsula was still politically divided and the question of a national language was a central topic of cultural debate. In the early 19th century, dialects represented the main everyday means of communication for a large portion of the population, while literary Italian remained largely the language of culture, administration, and educated circles. Milan, economic and intellectual capital of Lombardy, possessed a linguistically rich tradition, consolidated through centuries of dialect literature, commercial activity, and urban life. Cherubini proposed to systematically document this patrimony, collecting vocabularies, expressions, and denominational terms from different sectors of society. His work fits into the framework of the emerging scientific dialectology in Italy, as interest in regional languages began to move beyond simple lexical curiosities toward documentary and comparative significance. The work’s importance extends beyond linguistics: through its definitions, it reveals information about popular traditions, food, artisan tools, agricultural practices, commerce, institutions, and social relations of 19th-century Lombardy. Of particular note is the connection with Alessandro Manzoni, who sought a living, comprehensible, and widely shared Italian language. The great novelist owned and annotated the four volumes of the 1839–1843 edition, using them as a tool for comparing Milanese and Italian lexicons. His attention to the dictionary confirms Cherubini’s role in the linguistic debate that accompanied the birth of modern Italy. Today the work remains a fundamental source for studying the evolution of the Milanese dialect and the cultural transformation of Lombard society.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Francesco Cherubini was born in Milan in 1789 and died at Lomaniga, near Missaglia, on June 4, 1851. A writer, lexicographer, linguist, and scholar of Lombard popular traditions, he was one of the most important figures in Italian dialectology in the first half of the 19th century. He devoted much of his life to collecting and studying Milanese linguistic heritage, developing a working method based on observation of usage, consultation of literary sources, and systematic classification of vocabulary. Parallel to his research, he held important positions in Lombard education administration, becoming head of the Imperial Royal Normal School of Milan in 1820, a post he held until 1848. In 1814 he published the first edition of the Milanese-Italian Dictionary, in two volumes, a starting point for a long, ongoing program of expansion. Between 1839 and 1843 he issued the second expanded edition, which became the main reference for the study of the Milanese dialect. He also contributed to other linguistic repertoires, publishing an Italian-Latin Dictionary in 1822 and a Mantuan-Italian Dictionary in 1827. His editorial work in the field of dialect literature was also significant: between 1816 and 1817 he curated the Collection of the Best Works Written in Milanese Dialect, which included texts by major Lombard authors, among them Carlo Porta. After his death further lexicographic materials were published, including the 1856 supplement to the Milanese Dictionary and the Italian Patronymic Dictionary in 1860. His work was appreciated by Alessandro Manzoni, who used Cherubinian repertoires in his linguistic research. Cherubini is today regarded as one of the greatest Italian lexicographers of the 19th century and a fundamental figure in the historical documentation of Lombard dialects.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first edition of the Milanese-Italian Dictionary appeared in Milan in 1814 in two volumes, representing one of the earliest major attempts at a modern systematic organization of Milanese lexical patrimony. The work attracted significant interest among Lombard cultural circles, but the author himself later acknowledged its limits and undertook a long program of revision, enlargement, and correction. The second edition was published by the Imperial Royal Printing House between 1839 and 1843, with a vastly larger textual scope than the previous edition, reaching about six times the amount of lexical material. The four volumes were released progressively: the first in 1839, covering A–C; the second in 1840, D–L; the third in 1841, M–Q; the fourth in 1843, R–Z, with the Additions and Corrections and the List of Associated Gentlemen. Publication by association reflects a distinctive 19th-century editorial system in which readers could support the pre-publication realization of large works. Among the associates was Alessandro Manzoni, whose personal copy, annotated with Emilia Luti, is held at the National Library of the Brera. Cherubini’s work did not end with the fourth volume: upon his death in 1851, materials remained for further additions. In 1856 the fifth volume was published posthumously, including the Supplement, the Philological Notions about the Milanese dialect, and an Essay of Observations on the Brianzese dialect, prepared by collaborators who completed the editorial work. The definitive edition thus consists of five volumes, while the first four make up the complete alphabetical dictionary published during the author’s lifetime. The original print run is not documented in detail, but the List of Associated Gentlemen makes it possible to partially reconstruct the audience that supported and welcomed the lexicographic undertaking.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
The Milanese-Italian Dictionary by Francesco Cherubini stands as one of the fundamental repertoires of Lombard dialectology and Italian linguistic history of the 19th century. The second edition of 1839–1843 marks a decisive step in the work’s evolution, thanks to the notable expansion of entries, greater structuring of definitions, and the introduction of numerous references to material culture and popular traditions. The relationship with Alessandro Manzoni is particularly significant, as his annotated copy of the four volumes is preserved at the National Library of Brera in Milan. The work also documents the role of the Imperial Royal Printing House in producing major cultural repertoires intended for a Lombard audience. The presence of the Additions and Corrections and the List of Associated Gentlemen adds further bibliographic interest to the four original volumes. The posthumous 1856 supplement represents an autonomous extension of the collection and must be distinguished from the 1839–1843 alphabetic series. The dictionary remains today an important source for the study of the Milanese language’s evolution and the cultural, social, and economic transformations of Lombardy before Italian Unification.