Aristophanes. fl. c. 446-368 B.C.E.

Le Arringatrici…Comedia Facetissima Volgarizzata in Versi…Con…annotazioni. [With:] La Lisistrata. [And:] Le Festeggianti Cerere.

[Rome, Vincenzo Cavazzi] c. 1752-57.

Folio (344 x 234 mm.). MANUSCRIPT. [viii], [159], [11 blank]p. and [vi], [119], [1 blank]p and, [v], [i blank], [137]p. In a single cursive hand, Greek text supplied in the spaces left blank for it by Cavazzi.

Contemporary gilt-ruled sheep (scuffed, edges and corners worn, short splits at the spine base), gilt spine and red morocco label, edges sprinkled blue, green, yellow and red.

            Ad I-III: PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED MANUSCRIPT of these three ancient Greek comedies on women, sex and the subversion of gender roles, all in the Italian verse translations of Michaelangelo Giacomelli (1695-1774). The scribe, Cavazzi (fl. 1744-59), copied Giacomelli’s original drafts under his supervision, and Giacomelli added some text in his own hand. the first and third translations are unpublished, while the second was only put in print in 2017.
            Giacomelli’s language oscillates between “elaborate lyricism and...indecent and ingenious triviality” (Sonnino, Capitolo, tr.), mirroring Aristophanes’ comedic style. THE TRANSLATOR BORROWS FROM BOCCACCIO AND EMPLOYS ROMAN DIALECT. He also provides a facing commentary on vocabulary, historical context, textual variants, scholia and earlier translations.
            In nice condition, armorial bookplate of the Chabannes family (Agry). My thanks to Prof. Maurizio Sonnino for his invaluable assistance.
¶Sonnino, “L’Aristofane ‘scomparso’ di Michel’Angelo Giacomelli” in SemRom n.s. 1 (2012) 95-128; Sonnino, Un capitolo ignoto di storia degli studi classici nella Roma del Settecento 20 & 127-48.
            Ad I: In Assemblywomen, A GROUP OF ATHENIAN WOMEN DON THEIR HUSBANDS’ CLOTHES and trick the all-male assembly into voting in favor of an all-female government, which legislates common ownership of goods and universal sexual freedom.
            Ad II: In Lysistrata, Greek women organize a sex strike to end the Peloponnesian War.
¶See Sonnino’s Lisistrata. Testo originale. Traduzione annotata di M.A. Giacomelli. Commento (2017).
            Ad III: The only fair copy of Giacomelli’s Italian translation of Women at the Thesmophoria, which mocks poetic vanity and structural misogyny, both here personified by the tragedian Euripides.

Item #06632

Price: $13,500.00

Status: On Hold