Italian Lessons. New York: Italian Book Company New York, 1914 [copyright].

Fifth Edition. It seems likely that this Fifth, and the Seventh Edition, q.v., date from sometime in the 1920s, but there is no evidence in the book or otherwise to pin this down.

Here, as with Pecorini's Grammatica enciclopedia, I adhere to G. Thomas Tanselle's dictum about the importance of collecting every edition of any work that you believes holds any importance, if you really want to do bibliographic history. The collection has the "New and Improved Edition," perhaps the equivalent of a second edition, and the Fifth, Seventh and Eighth editions, ranging from 1914 (or perhaps a few years later) up to at least 1933. Clearly this work was popular among English speakers. We are looking for the missing editions!

It would not be until an Eighth edition in 1933, q.v. - 24 years after the original 1909 publication of this work for native English speakers -  that the reader would be reminded that despite the 1914 date that appears in every edition (the Fifth and Seventh before the Eighth are in the collection), there was an earlier copyright by another publisher, namely, Francesco Tocci.

Alfonso Arbib-Costa

Italian Book Company New York

1914 [copyright]

18.5x13cm; 299 p.

English