Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on transcription
- 1 Printers, authors and the rise of the editor
- 2 Editors and their methods
- 3 Humanists, friars and others: editing in Venice and Florence, 1470–1500
- 4 Bembo and his influence, 1501–1530
- 5 Venetian editors and ‘the grammatical norm’, 1501–1530
- 6 Standardization and scholarship: editing in Florence, 1501–1530
- 7 Towards a wider readership: editing in Venice, 1531–1545
- 8 The editor triumphant: editing in Venice, 1546–1560
- 9 In search of a cultural identity: editing in Florence, 1531–1560
- 10 Piety and elegance: editing in Venice, 1561–1600
- 11 A ‘true and living image’: editing in Florence, 1561–1600
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index of Italian editions 1470–1600
- Index of manuscripts and annotated copies
- General index
11 - A ‘true and living image’: editing in Florence, 1561–1600
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on transcription
- 1 Printers, authors and the rise of the editor
- 2 Editors and their methods
- 3 Humanists, friars and others: editing in Venice and Florence, 1470–1500
- 4 Bembo and his influence, 1501–1530
- 5 Venetian editors and ‘the grammatical norm’, 1501–1530
- 6 Standardization and scholarship: editing in Florence, 1501–1530
- 7 Towards a wider readership: editing in Venice, 1531–1545
- 8 The editor triumphant: editing in Venice, 1546–1560
- 9 In search of a cultural identity: editing in Florence, 1531–1560
- 10 Piety and elegance: editing in Venice, 1561–1600
- 11 A ‘true and living image’: editing in Florence, 1561–1600
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index of Italian editions 1470–1600
- Index of manuscripts and annotated copies
- General index
Summary
In chapter 9 we saw a contrast in mid-cinquecento florence between the scrupulousness with which classical texts were being edited by scholars such as Piero Vettori and, on the other hand, the dearth of scholarly editions of vernacular texts. This disparity disappeared in the last thirty or forty years of the century, thanks to a group of Florentines who studied in detail the language of the works which had laid the foundations of the literary dominance of Florence and who also gave some thought to the way in which their texts had been transmitted. Such studies were a potential source of great prestige to the Florentine state, and they were actively encouraged by the Medici family, in particular by Cosimo (who took the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569) and, after his death in 1574, by his son Francesco. Cosimo and his secretary Lelio Torelli also did their best to protect both Florentine literature and the Florentine book trade from the full force of the Inquisition. Archive material for Florence on this subject is not as rich as for Venice; but we know for instance that, when Paul IV's Index appeared in 1559, the Duke managed to arrange for two bonfires of prohibited books including a token selection of non-heretical ones instead of the complete destruction of all copies which the Church had requested, and that Torelli defended the booksellers when they complained of the effects of the Inquisition in 1570.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Print Culture in Renaissance ItalyThe Editor and the Vernacular Text, 1470–1600, pp. 155 - 181Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994