Antonio Magliabechi wrote Letter L-350 to Leeuwenhoek in late 1698 with reports on several recent books that he thought might be of interest written in Latin by Italians
No manuscript is known.
In this letter, Antonio Magliabechi writes to praise L.’s work and express regret that the book he sent has not been received by Leeuwenhoek. He reports on several recent books that he thought might be of interest to L. and the Dutch readers of Pieter Rabus’s Boekzaal. The books were written in Latin by Italians Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Alessandro Tassoni, and Giovanni Mario De Crescimbeni.
The text as printed here is that of editor Pieter Rabus’s sometimes loose translation in De Boekzaal van Europe, which regularly published “Italiaansch Boeknieuws”, excerpts from letters by Magliabechi to L. Rabus printed only the book news. This letter is the tenth of the eleven letters with book news published in ten Boekzaal articles from March 1693 to October 1699.
Mr. Cool is not identified.
What is known about the other parts of the present letter comes from L.’s Letter 198 L-354 of 28 February 1699 to Antonio Magliabechi, Collected Letters, vol. 12
I have received the letter which you, very noble and learned sir, have done me the honour to write, informing me at the same time that I shall receive the pistole which, as I was told, is the cost of the great present of the book which you sent me beyond my deserts. ... I am obliged to you for the great kindness you had by sending me the news from Italy; I was pleased to read in your letter that Mr. Cool and his companion are still there, in good health and careful study.
“Italiaansch Nieuws”, De Boekzaal van Europe, January and February, pp. 183-86. Copied and pasted from Collected Letters, vol. 20, "this volume" in the footnotes.
ITALIAN NEWS[1].
I.
Anecdota, Quæ Ex Ambrosianæ Bibliothecæ Codicibus Nunc Primum Eruit, Notis, Ac Disquisitionibus Auget Ludovicus Antonius Muratorius, in Eadem Bibliotheca Ambrosiani Collegij Doctor, Tomus secundus: Præter Veterum Monimenta Commentarium Continens De Corona Ferrea, Qua Romanorum Imperatores in Insubribus Coronari Solent
That is,
Writings, hitherto unpublished, and now only produced from the Ambrosian Library, augmented with notes by Lodewijk Antoni Muratori[2], teacher of the Ambrosian meeting in the same Library. * Second part, containing, apart from the memorials of the ancients, a treatise of the Iron Crown, with which the Roman Emperors were accustomed to be crowned by the Milanese. At Milan by Jozef Pandulfus Malatesta. 1698. in 4.
II.
To be printed in Venice,
Le Osservazzioni del Tassoni, sopra il Vocabolario della Crusca.
That is,
The Notes by Tassoni on the Dictionary of Accademia della Crusca[3]. A work, now coming out many years after Tassoni’s death[4].
III.
For news from Rome, which is printed there,
L’Istoria della volgar Poesia, scritta da Giovanni Mario de Crescimberi, detto tragli Arcadi Alfestbeo Cario, Custode d'Arcadia als Altezza serma di Ferdinando Gran Principi di Toscana.
* See the first part quoted in the Boekzaal of September and October 1697[5]
That is,
The history of common poetry, written by Johan Mario de Crescimberi[6], called Alfesibeo Cario by the Accademia Dell’arcadia[7], overseer of the same, to his Illustrious Highness Ferdinand Grand Prince of Tuscany[8]. 1698. in 4.
IV.
Enclosed in a French letter from Mr. Fortunato Vinaccesi, from Brescia on the 27th of November 1698 to Mr. A. Van Leeuwenhoek, was the printout of an Italian letter, sent from Parma to Mr. A. Magliabecchi on the 21st of October of the same year[9], stating four special experiments, to preserve sacks of gunpowder against water and fire[10], which the Franciscan Father Vincenzo Coronelli[11], cosmographer of the Venetian State, made for the grand duke of Florence, in addition to the testimony of the reported grand duke’s chief cannoneer, with in addition a Spanish letter from Monsieur Fernando Baldes[12], governor of Milan, to the aforementioned Coronelli, and finally a new report, also on the subject as before, written from Turin.
The reason I didn’t mention it more broadly in the Boekzaal is because the broadsheets from Italy don’t mention this invention of Coronelli altogether as favourably.
My printer[13] helps me remember in this case that he wished that Father Coronelli had fulfilled the agreement that he concluded with him here at Rotterdam (when the Venetian Envoys should sail from there to England), so he could give him good testimony on that account: but not now[14].
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[1] The previous letter from Magliabechi to L. is Letter L-344 of June 1698, in this volume.
[2] For Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1643-1717), see Letter L-322 of 1 June 1697, n. 12, in this volume. The book mentioned here is the second volume of Anecdota Latina ex Ambrosianæ Bibliothecæ codicibus. The Ambrosian Library in Milan, a major repository of Counter-Reformation Catholic scholarship, opened in 1609 as one of the first public libraries. See Letter L-275 of 23 October 1695, Letter L-322 of 1 June 1697, and Letter L-326 of August 1697, all from Magliabechi to L. and all in this volume.
[3] The Accademia della Crusca was founded in Florence in 1583 by a group of scholars who wanted to purify the Italian language.
[4] Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635) was an Italian writer, poet, and literary critic. He was elected to the Accademia della Crusca in 1589.
[5] See Magliabechi’s Letter L-326 of August 1697, in this volume.
[6] Giovanni Mario de Crescimbeni (1663-1728) was an Italian poet and literary critic. L’Istoria della volgar poesia, divisa in sei libri was his first publication, published in Rome. He also published under his pseudo-classical name, Alfesibeo Cario.
[7] Accademia Dell’Arcadia (The Academy of Arcadia) was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690 to combat the ornate, witty style of poetry dominant in the 17th century. De Crescimbeni was its first overseer. The Arcadians favored a more natural, simple poetic style based on the classics and particularly on Greek and Roman pastoral poetry.
[8] Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663-1713), known as a patron of music, was the eldest son of Cosimo III de’ Medici of Florence.
[9] See Letter L-348 of 27 November 1698, in this volume. For Fortunato Nicola Vinaccesi (1631-1713), see the Remarks for that letter.
[10] For more about this sack of gunpowder, see Letter L-359 of 8 September 1699, in this volume, and Letter 206 [121] L-363 of 16 October 1699 to Antonio Magliabechi, Collected Letters, vol. 12.
[11] For Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718), see the Remarks for Letter L-348 of 27 November 1698, in this volume.
[12] Not identified. See the Remarks to Letter L-348 of 27 November 1698, in this volume.
[13] For Pieter vander Slaart, the printer/publisher of Boekzaal van Europe, see his letter to L., Letter L-317 of some time before April 1697, in this volume.
[14] The next letter from Magliabechi to L. is Letter L-359 of 8 September 1699, in this volume. Before that, L. responded with Letter 198 L-354 of 28 February 1699, ibidem.
