New-York tribune., 1885-02-24
THE VILLA FORINI.
IT'S TREASURY OF PETRARCHIAN AND ICE
LANDIC LITERATURE.


THE COLLECTIONS OF PROFESSOR rIsKE-NEARLf
1000 VOLUMES OF PETRARCHIANA.
TO the Edttor Of The tribune.
SIR: In former letter gave description auu
outline history of the Villa Forni at Florence. lho"
turn to the special treasures which nave 1ouhu
temporary restingplace in this singular old ho"so-
treasures to which my too brief examlnatoh' acco-
named rs It was by the kind explanatory comments
of their owner, will hardly enable me TO 40 ui JUS
t,ce These arc two collections of books, widely
differing IN their character. but both brought
together by Mr. Fiskc and each nearly unique OF Its
kind. The first relates to.the poet Pctrarch tie
chief figure of the Italian literary renaissance tls
not only the most perfect this subject but per-
haps one of the most nearly complete collections Oh
works on any single topic ever accumulated ny 'o
zeal and industry of an ardent bo0k-cohector' ~
docs not quite reach 1000 volumes. including 'nc
various editions of the authors different creations
Latin as well as Italian, biographies, commentaries
critical essays, works Petrarch's contemporaries
in their relations TO him, and most OF the DooHs
treatises pamphlets, monographs, review articieS
bearing in even an indirect way on the poets i''o
and labor OF much interest are tho lew aho'o"'
manuscripts of the Sonuets, Canzoni and Trlunphs,
constituting Pctrarch's Italian productions. One
was written within hall a century after the authors
ornate Italian calgraphy from the middle of the
Ouattrocento, one of them acquired at cost oi
nearly 81 900; a fourth illuminated vellum codex
contains the "Troni only aud Is one OF the best
of known texts dating from about 14lO WITH
these are few modern manuscripts-works OIL fc-
trarchan subjects by Continental scholars. WHICH,
for one reason or another. never passed through Il
publishers hands. as, for instance commentary OH
the Italian poems by Pcregrinus Moratus father oil
the more celebrated Olympia Moratal. professor
at Eerrara; 1t was finished IN l52l, was very hhely
not issued on account of the authors Lutheranism,
and has been hitherto supposed bY the Italian liter
ary historians to be lost.
PEIRAgCn ~ PRINT.
OF the printed editions of Petrarchs vernacular
verse the collection embraces all but three of those
issued before 1900, be inning with the first Nenlce
li7O) the copy being. it appears the only absolutely
faultiess one sold for many years with margins
broad enough to sui, the most fastidious of bbo-
maniacs and costing the possessor even more than
the manuscript cited above. Beside it stand the
second edition Rome. l47l. the third tPadua
li72l and the subsequent editions of JonsOn, AZ
logud and other early Italian printers. These Pc
trarch incuna bula all in folio mostly admirable
copies and often adorned with quaint. rude lustra-
tions indicating the infancy of the graveTs att Of
the 40 known editions OF the sixteenth century
the period during which the Petrarch cultus cnlm-
uated-thc shelves already show los. comprising all
those of such famous tyPographcrs rs the Aldlnes.
the Giunti Francesca da Bologna. Soncino. Giolto,
with the commentaries of Nclutclla, Gcsnaldo.
Dolce Fausto aud others The list OF editions IN
tine two following centuries Is even more complete.
while thOso Of the nineteenth century are nearly ali
present, from the two hueo folios Jf the renowned
Parmesan printer Bohoni to the vest pocket edition
of the Venetian OngIna Not a lew % these are
printed on ycllum; and not a lew are largo-papcr
copies or Impressions privately printed IN Limited
editions. or npic SONS on colOrcd papcr-a!I OF
which are 50 dear to the collectors heart.
Turning 10 the numerous Latin works of Petrarch,
cpstolary, antobiographical. philosophical. hi
torical, po,,ica find them represented III each
case by first editions ana by nearly all the later
Ones Many OF these are OF cXtTc'ncst rdIIty, pub
sAcl a. they often were. particularly dUTlng The
fifteenth ceatury III obscure towns oi Italy, ter
many aud the Low Countries. Some are valued IN
the book sellers catalogues AT good deal more than
Their weight in gold, Or have O,cn acquired ut cost
ii one ma, reckon the priCe of books IA this novel
way-of doLon or twcntl dollars Tor cach single
/ lcIf amounting, in the case of work of u ialr
| number of folius 20 no Insignificant sum. Ia this
norton of the collection are included many of the
early tramsl atoms into French, German and Dutch
of the tale OF Patient Grsscl originally composed
IN Italian by 1occacc.o, but sUb,c lueutly rendered
INTO Latin by lctrarch, whose version. ewing t. the
| wider knowledge OF The Latin beyond the Alps,
| passed instead of the original into the worlds
literature On tie shelves arc all the editions
without exception Of Petrarciis collected writings
and believe every translation of hs Italian verse
| into the twelve or fourteen most important Eu
rorean tongues; the many editions and versions of
| ms work De RencdIIs Fortune the most uOpu
| lar of his Latin tIeatiscs; and every Biographical
sketch of hls life of even the slightest Importance
| Among the minor divisions may he mentioned tie
| works on the various places in which Petrarch
| soiourrcd. such AreZzo, Nhcrc hc was bonn
| Avi1non and Naucluso. tho resorts OF hls youth
Fadna aud Arqua the residences Of his old age the
ast-nained hamlet among the Eugancdn hill, of the
Vencto being the scene OF his death and the size OF
his tomb.
LAURA
The fair Laura, she of the
Beauteons eyes where Love doth nesting stay"
IS represented by three or more volumes. one
of which particularly took my fancy as it bore the
ouecr title. in Italian. of "Wby Petrarch did not
praise Lauras nose" Two or three sllelye, arc
filled with editions of works falsely ascribcd TO
Pctrarcl. and with the poems of his seryile imi-
tatOrs the Petrarciists of the seventeenth century
In separate there more than three hundred
engraved portraits of Petralch and Laura many of
them proof Impressions, scores Of photographs and
sketches of Pctrarch localities and a large uumbcr
Of medals. busts, porcelains and paintings treating
Of Pctrarchan themes | ought to add that among
tho books are rich specimens of antioue bind
ings. while the foremost living craftsmen of Lon
don Paris and Italy nave contributed fine EXAMPLES
of their skill with covers of Illuminated vcIlum
and morocco mosaic and heavy crushed feathers