MARTINELLI, Vincenzio.

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Istoria critica della vita civile. First edition of Martinelli's first major work, a collection of critical essays on civil society. Several editions in England and Italy followed, establishing the author's reputation.Martinelli (1702-1785) came to England from Tuscany in 1748 to teach Italian. This work, written during his stay at the Bourbon Court at Naples, was the first of three books to be published in England. The publication "consists of 19 chapters, each dealing with one aspect of la vita civile; aspects ranging from education and the duties of family life, through industry, art, and science, laws and methods of government, to la vita felice, and it ends - inevitably for a foreigner in eighteenth-century England - with a chapter 'della liberta'" (Thorne, p. 93). The work holds up England's political system as a model for Italian states, while simultaneously promoting Italian culture to an English audience. It is an unusual example of a major original work first appearing in Italian in London.

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