Memorie di Lorenzo da Ponte da Ceneda in tre volumi [Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte][Volume 1 only]. New York: Gray & Bunce, Stampatori, 1829.
Title
Memorie di Lorenzo da Ponte da Ceneda in tre volumi [Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte][Volume 1 only]. New York: Gray & Bunce, Stampatori, 1829.
Description
This much more famous work (than Poesie Varie) was also "Pubblicate dall' Autore."
Da Ponte’s Memorie could not have been published in Italy at the time they were written for the reason that he freely criticized the Austro-Hungarian empire that subjugated Italy at the time. This work anticipates by nearly 100 years the publication in New York of Armando Borghi's Mussolini in camicia - which also could not have been published in Italian in Italy at the time it was published in New York.
Da Ponte’s aim, as he explained in his Storia della lingua e letteratura Italiana in New-York (History of Italian Language and Literature in New York) (New York: Gray e Bunce, Stampatori, 1827), was to overcome New York’s then-present deficit in culture (as compared to Boston and Philadelphia).
While he says in his Memorie that “only he” taught Italian in New York, Storia della lingua reveals that when he returned in 1819 to New York after a period of living in Pennsylvania, Da Ponte found that several of his compatriots had established themselves as Italian teachers. He thought well of some of them, but held many others in contempt as imposters.
Da Ponte persuaded his student, and later congressman, Gulian Verplanck, to get the Library of Congress to purchase Italian books published in Italy, which it did. However, they were lost in a fire that required the Library of Congress to begin anew to amass books.
Da Ponte’s Memorie could not have been published in Italy at the time they were written for the reason that he freely criticized the Austro-Hungarian empire that subjugated Italy at the time. This work anticipates by nearly 100 years the publication in New York of Armando Borghi's Mussolini in camicia - which also could not have been published in Italian in Italy at the time it was published in New York.
Da Ponte’s aim, as he explained in his Storia della lingua e letteratura Italiana in New-York (History of Italian Language and Literature in New York) (New York: Gray e Bunce, Stampatori, 1827), was to overcome New York’s then-present deficit in culture (as compared to Boston and Philadelphia).
While he says in his Memorie that “only he” taught Italian in New York, Storia della lingua reveals that when he returned in 1819 to New York after a period of living in Pennsylvania, Da Ponte found that several of his compatriots had established themselves as Italian teachers. He thought well of some of them, but held many others in contempt as imposters.
Da Ponte persuaded his student, and later congressman, Gulian Verplanck, to get the Library of Congress to purchase Italian books published in Italy, which it did. However, they were lost in a fire that required the Library of Congress to begin anew to amass books.
Creator
Lorenzo Da Ponte
Publisher
Gray & Bunce, Stampatori
Date
1829
Format
15 x 9.5cm; 159 p.
Language
Italian
Citation
Lorenzo Da Ponte, “Memorie di Lorenzo da Ponte da Ceneda in tre volumi [Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte][Volume 1 only]. New York: Gray & Bunce, Stampatori, 1829.,” Italian-Language American Imprints: The Periconi Collection, accessed April 25, 2024, https://italianamericanimprints.omeka.net/items/show/140.
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