[ISABELLA SFORZA]

£95,000 · Offered by Sokol Books

An extraordinarily rare survival, an anonymous, unknown English translation of an Italian humanist treatise by a prominent Renaissance woman, Isabella Sforza (1503-c.61), first published as Della vera tranquillita dell'animo by Aldus in 1544. The work was published in Spanish and French translations during the STC period, but never in English. The Italian original is still in print. The manuscript dates to the latter half of the sixteenth century, most likely towards its end. This period was characterised by translations of Italian works of travel and voyages, commensurate with the burgeoning interest in New World exploration and colonisation, along with a renewed interest in 'courtly' humanism and works on literary style. Especially in the case of the latter genre, the purpose of translation was always, in part at least, the refinement of the English language and its orthography, intended for an increasingly varied audience, as works of Italian humanism became more readily available. This was not apparently true, however, of Sforza's work, as our translator was working either from a copy of Aldus's imperfect printed text, or a ms. which was their common ancestor. The translator was missing the last few lines of Chapter 11 and the header for Chapter 12, instead inserting an elaborate note, which, like the preface (see below), gives us some idea of the translator's own voice: 'Here, I am inforced to make an abrupt connexion of that which followeth because there wanteth two lea

• Binding: Hardcover

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