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    Core documents by: Date Place Core documents for: Italy Germany France Britain United States All documents for: Italy Germany France Britain United States Original language: English French German Italian Latin Browse documents by: Person ... by name ... by occupation ... by life dates Place Institution Legislation Case law Browse commentaries by: Person ... by name ... by occupation ... by life dates Place Institution Legislation Case law Browse database by: Key words Editors' login:  | | Giovanni Fratta's "On the Dedication of Books", Venice (1590) Source: British Library 1072.h.25 Citation: Giovanni Fratta's "On the Dedication of Books" (1590), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org Record Images Record-ID: i_1590 Full title "On the dedication of books, with the correction of the abuse introduced in this matter. Dialogues by Sig. Giovanni Fratta, Veronese nobleman" Full title original language Della dedicatione de'libri, Con la Correction dell'Abuso, in questa materia introdotto. Dialoghi del Sig. Giovanni Fratta, Nobile Veronese. Abstract In his Dialogue "On the Dedication of Books" (1590) the Veronese lawyer and poet Giovanni Fratta, who was a friend of Torquato Tasso, develops his theory on how princes ought to be generous in their patronage of the writers who dedicated their works to them. The Dialogue starts with a survey of the historical origins of dedicatory inscriptions, going back to classical Antiquity, and then considers the abuses which in more recent times had come to mar this practice (such as excessive flattery on the part of authors). One of the interlocutors, Critone, argues that authors must not be moved by considerations of financial gain and attacks the invention of printing for having vulgarized literature. He defends the traditional view of authors as belonging to a disinterested, aristocratic élite. His opponent in the Dialogue, Francesco Porta, who is introduced as a printer with great practical experience, argues that authors are entitled to dedicate their books in the hope of obtaining legitimate remuneration for their work, just as lawyers and doctors charge fees from their clients. A third interlocutor, Eugenio, sides with Porta and praises the opening up of literary culture ushered in by the art of printing, which meant that everyone could now benefit from a book, not just its dedicatee. Eugenio, advocating a more modern concept of authorship, also argues that dedications of works should not merely consist of praises for the dedicatee but be addressed to the public as a whole. Fratta himself tried to live up to this concept in the dedication of his poem of 1592 "La Malteide" to Ranuccio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, where he avoids praising this prince in too florid terms and puts his work in a historical context for the benefit of his readers. Although the Dialogue does not seem to have left much of an impression on Fratta's contemporaries, it is an important document reflecting changing attitudes towards the writer as courtier and the market opened up by printing. Bibliography Lucas, Corinne, "Vers une nouvelle image de l'écrivain: 'Della dedicatione de' libri' de Giovanni Fratta", in "L'écrivain face à son public en France et en Italie à la Renaissance", "Actes du colloque internationale de Tours", ed. by C.A. Fiorato and J.C. Margolin (Paris, 1989): 85-104 Richardson, Brian, "Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) Santoro, Marco, "Contro l'abuso delle dediche. 'Della dedicatione de' libri' di Giovanni Fratta", in "Paratesto. Rivista internazionale" 1 (2004): 99-120 Related documents in this database Author Giovanni Fratta Publisher Giorgio Angelieri Location Venice Year 1590 Language Italian Source British Library 1072.h.25 Physical description N/A Illustrations tables N/A Persons referred to Aelian (fl.220) Alexander the Great (356 B.C.-323 B.C.) Ambrogini, Angelo (1454-1494) Anaxagoras (c.500 B.C.-428 B.C.) Anaximander (c.611 B.C.-546 B.C.) Anaximenes (d.c.500 B.C.) Apellicon of Teos (d.c.84 B.C.) Appian of Alexandria (c.95-c.165) Aristippus (c.435 B.C.-360 B.C.) Aristophanes (c.448 B.C.-c.388 B.C.) Aretino, Leonardo (c.1369-1444) Aristotle (384 B.C.-322 B.C.) Arnigio, Bartolomeo (1523-1577) Athenaeus (fl.200) Attalus I, Soter (269 B.C.-197 B.C.) Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) Baldi, Bernardino (1533-1617) Batracus Bembo, Pietro (1470-1547) Borgofranco, Giovanni Battista da (fl.1543) Brutus, Marcus Junius (85 B.C.-42 B.C.) Calcondile, Demetrio (fl.1447) Campana, Cesare (c.1540-1606) Ceruti, Federico (1531-1611) Cesarini, Giuliano (1398-1444) Charles V of Habsburg (1500-1558) Chiabrera, Gabriel (1552-1638) Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106 B.C.-43 B.C.) Cicero, Quintus Tullius (102 B.C.-43 B.C.) Corio, Bernardino (1459-1510) Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Dares of Phrygia Demetrius Phalereus (c.350 B.C.-c.283 B.C.) Demosthenes (384 B.C.-322 B.C.) Dio Cassius (c.150-c.235) Dioscorides, Pedanius (c.40-c.90) Dolce, Lodovico (1508-1568) Ennius, Quintus (239 B.C.-169 B.C.) Epicles of Hermione Este, Ercole, I d' (1431-1505) Este, Ippolito, II d' (1509-1572) Euripides (c.480 B.C.-406 B.C.) Fabius, Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus (fl.121 B.C.) Fracastoro, Girolamo (1483-1553) Franco, Veronica (1546-1591) Fratta, Giovanni (fl.1575-1611) Frederick II of Germany (1194-1250) Frederick III of Habsburg (1415-1493) Gaius Herennius (fl.86 B.C.) Galen (c.130-c.201) Giovio, Paolo (1483-1552) Giustiniani, Agostino (1470-1536) Grégoire, Pierre (1540-c.1597) Gregori, Giovanni de (fl.1500) Gregori, Gregorio de (fl.1500-1525) Guicciardini, Francesco (1483-1540) Gutenberg, Johannes (c.1400-1468) Herodian (170-240) Herostratus (fl.356 B.C.) Hesiod (fl.700 B.C.) Hipparchus (fl.160 B.C.-125 B.C.) Hippocrates (c.460 B.C.-377 or 359 B.C.) Homer (fl.700 B.C.-?) Iamblichus (c.245-c.325) Innocent I, St (360-417) Innocent III (1160-1216) Landino, Christoforo (1424-1498) Leoniceno, Niccolò (1428-1524) Livia, Drusilla (58 B.C.-29 A.D.) Livy (59 B.C.-17 A.D.) Lucian (c.117-c.180) Lucullus, Lucius Licinius (c.110 B.C.-57 B.C.) Lycurgus Lysander (d.395 B.C.) Maecenas, Gaius Cilnius (d.8 B.C.) Marcellus, Marcus Claudius (c.268 B.C.-c.208 B.C.) Marogna, Nicolò (fl.1590-1618) Mattioli, Pietro Andrea (1501-1577) Maximilian I (1459-1519) Mejía, Pedro (1499-1551) Merula, Georgius (c.1430-1494) Nepos, Cornelius (c.99 B.C.-25 B.C.) Nero (37-68) Nicolaus of Damascus (b.c.64 B.C.) Numa Pompilius (fl.715 B.C.-673 B.C.) Oribasius (c.320-400) Persona, Cristofore (d.1485) Petrarch (1304-1374) Philip II (382 B.C.-336 B.C.) Philip II (1527-1598) Pindar (c.522 B.C.-c.440 B.C.) Plato (c.428 B.C.-c.348 B.C.) Plautus, Titus Maccius (c.250 B.C.-184 B.C.) Plotinus (c.205-270) Plutarch (c.46-c.120) Polybius (c.205 B.C.-c.123 B.C.) Procopius (c.499-565) Ptolemy I, Soter (d.283 B.C.) Ptolemy II, Philadelphius (308 B.C.-246 B.C.) Publicola, Publius Valerius (d.503 B.C.) Pulci, Luigi (1432-1484) Pythagoras (fl.530 B.C.) Quintilian (c.35-c.100) Robert of Anjou, 'the Wise' (1278-1343) Robortello, Francesco (1516-1567) Ruscelli, Girolamo (c.1504-1566) Sallust (86 B.C.-34 B.C.) Saurus Savorgnano, Count Mario (1513-1574) Scaliger, Julius Caesar (1484-1558) Scipio, Publius Cornelius, Africanus Major (237 B.C.-183 B.C.) Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (c.4 B.C.-c.65 A.D.) Sigonio, Carlo (c.1524-1584) Simonides of Ceos (556 B.C.-468 B.C.) Socrates (469 B.C.-399 B.C.) Solomon Sophocles (c.496 B.C.-405 B.C.) Speroni degli Alvarotti, Sperone (1500-1588) Stesichorus (640 B.C.-555 B.C.) Strabo (c.60 B.C.-20 A.D.) Sulla, Lucius Cornelius (138 B.C.-78 B.C.) Thales (c.624 B.C.-c.545 B.C.) Themistocles (c.523 B.C.-c.458 B.C.) Theocritus (c.310 B.C.-250 B.C.) Theodorus Gaza (c.1400-1475) Theophrastus (c.372 B.C.-c.287 B.C.) Theopompus of Chios (c.378 B.C.-c.300 B.C.) Theseus Thucydides (c.460 B.C.-c.400 B.C.) Tiberius (42 B.C.-37 A.D.) Timaeus of Locri (fl.400 B.C.) Timoleon (c.411 B.C.-c.337 B.C.) Tomitano, Bernardino (1517-1576) Trajan (c.53-117) Trebatius Testa, Gaius (fl.44 B.C.) Valla, Giorgio (1447-1500) Verità, Count Marco (fl.1587) Villani, Giovanni (c.1276-1348) Virgil (70 B.C.-19 B.C.) Vittorio, Pietro (fl.1567) Xenocrates (c.395 B.C.-314 B.C.) Xenophon (c.435 B.C.-354 B.C.) Ziletti, Francesco (fl.1581-1586) Zoilus (c.400 B.C.-320 B.C.) Persons referred to in commentary Farnese, Ranuccio I (1569-1622) Fratta, Giovanni (fl.1575-1611) Tasso, Torquato (1544-1595) Places referred to Alexandria Asia Athens Bologna Corinth Egypt Ephesus Jerusalem Mainz Marathon Naxos Padua Pergamon Rome Samos Sicily Venice Verona Vienna Places referred to in commentary N/A Legislation referred to N/A Legislation referred to in commentary N/A Cases referred to N/A Cases referred to in commentary N/A Institutions referred to Academia de Filarmonici, Verona Library of Alexandria Institutions referred to in commentary N/A Key words authors' remuneration censorship, pre-publication classics, Greek and Latin fraud humanism incentives libraries patronage Renaissance, the reputation scribal publication translations, of classic works Responsible editor Joanna Kostylo Copyright status (c) The British Library Board. All Rights Reserved, Licence No: 8716. Any copyright or database right that subsists in the Work or Reproduction remains the property either of the British Library Board or individual persons. The Work or Reproduction may not be used, sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or form or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of the British Library. Photographic images and scans of public domain documents may be protected under some copyright laws and/or contractual restrictions apply. If you wish to use images of this document in other contexts, please contact the relevant archive (see source). Translation and commentary fall under the project licence (see home page). | |||||
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