Grammatica-enciclopedia Italiana-Inglese per gli Italiani degli Stati Uniti [Italian-English Grammar-Encyclopedia for the Italians of the United States]. New York: Nicoletti Bros. Press, 1912.
Title
Description
This appears to be one of two identical texts, identical editions, with the same cover, including the misspelled "Enclopedia" (instead of "Enciclopedia"), with the upper half printed with a slightly different title (from that of the title page).
But there is a difference in the cover: in what is a blank horizontal black-scored panel jusst occupying the bottom of the front cover on the other identically dated copy of this work is stamped here the name of a bank. That bank was a sponsor of what have possibly been given as a "strenna" or popular Christmas-time gift for depositors, namely, this grammar aimed towards its Italian-speaking audience wanting to learn English. The sponsor is "Banca Commerciale Italiana | A. DiPietro & Co. | capitale lire 2,000,000.00 | 424 Hanover Street Boston, Mass. |Servizio speciale per vaglia telegrafici." One wonders why an American bank used "lire" rather than dollars to describe its capitalization; perhaps it had business partners in Italy that needed to know this.
In bragging about the length of his grammar, Pecorini (or his publisher) was perhaps making an invidious comparison with other earlier U.S.-developed grammars, such as Zanolini's, q.v., or De Gaudenzi's, q.v., although those grammars both weighed in at more than 300 pages (and so Pecorini's grammar hardly had "twice" the material; both initially published in the 1890s. He may have been making a comparison to Bassetti's far shorter (40 or so pages) and less ambitious "manuale" for teaching English to Italian immigrants. Or he may have also been comparing his work with that of the imported grammars designed to teach English to Italians but not to immigrant Italians.
This work later also went through new editions, reflecting its evident success, beginning with a second edition in 1919 and continuing with 1949 and 1952 editions, when it was reissued by both the author’s own Libreria Nuova Italia (New Italy Booksellers) and also in New York by Forzano & Fleri (under the title of Nuovissima grammatica enciclopedia italiana-inglese).
In New York, at the beginning of the 20th century, Pecorini (like many of the other writers whose works are on exhibition here) managed an Italian newspaper in America, in his case, Il Cittadino (The Citizen) for some years.
In preparing his Grammatica, as he noted in the preface of this work, in Italian, he “had in mind specially the middle class of Italian workers in the United States,” those who “while not having followed, in Italy, studies beyond elementary school, nevertheless had a knowledge of the Italian language that makes them able to appreciate a good and practical grammar.”
His goal was to offer a method of learning English that was different from that used in existing works produced either imported from Italy since the 1870s, or produced earlier in the 19th century, works geared more to advanced students in a classroom setting.
In collecting several of the editions of this work - and even two copies of the same 1911 copyrighted work printed in 1912 - I have followed the bibliographical principle of one of the great bibliographers of the 20th and 21st centuries, G. Thomas Tanselle, who argues that libraries should maintain multiple copies of works, even of the same edition, for what different stories the different copies can tell the bibliographer.
Indeed, if you look at the description of the second one of my two 1911-1912 copies, you can see just such a reason for collecting two seemingly identical copies.
Compare this to another copy I have reviewed, in which the entire lower half of the front cover is taken up by the name of the bookseller - not gift-giver - but also a bank, e.g., "Raffaele Prisco| Banchiere - Notaio pubblico|Agente autorizato di tutte le compagnie di navigazione," with naming of his other services, e.g., "Reimborsi e depositi esequiti presso le casse postali di risparmio del regno d'Italia." On the rear cover,"Banca Raffaele Prisco" of 73 Mulberry Street, New York, adding a description of other services, such as repairing of watches, and sales of rings with precious stone, including diamonds, and the like; and also the following:
"Libri a prezzi ridotti. La mia Banca, per meglio soddisfare la sua clientela, vende i libri col ribasso dal 30 al 50 per cento dai prezzi segnati in qualsiasi Catalogo di altri Banchieri e Librai | Domandate lista dei libri scelti | A richiesta si spedisce Catalogo Generale." [Books at reduced prices. My bank, to better satisfy its clientele, sells books with discounts of from 30 to 50% of the prices listed in whatever catalog of other bankers and booksellers. Ask for a list of chosen books. At request, we will send you a General Catalog.] The price on the spine - $1.25 - is the same price that other copies of the same time period carry, so it's unclear where the "reduced price" comes into play.
See the same practice, but by a different bank sponsoring a different grammar by a different publisher, the Banca Doyno of Cleveland sponsoring author/publisher De Gaudenzi's Nuovissima grammatica accelerata in the collection.
The price of this edition was, like the other, $1.25.
Comments