Primary Sources on Copyright

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ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Stationers Charter (1684) - Read more

Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Würzburg (1479) - Read more

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Giovanni Fratta's 'On the Dedication of Books', Venice (1590)

Source: British Library 1072.h.25

Citation:
Giovanni Fratta's 'On the Dedication of Books', Venice (1590), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Record-ID: i_1590

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_i_1590

Full title:
'On the dedication of books, with the correction of the abuse introduced in this matter. Dialogues by Sig. Giovanni Fratta, Veronese nobleman'

Full title original language:
Della dedicatione de'libri, Con la Correction dell'Abuso, in questa materia introdotto. Dialoghi del Sig. Giovanni Fratta, Nobile Veronese.

Abstract:
In his Dialogue 'On the Dedication of Books' (1590) the Veronese lawyer and poet Giovanni Fratta, who was a friend of Torquato Tasso, develops his theory on how princes ought to be generous in their patronage of the writers who dedicated their works to them. The Dialogue starts with a survey of the historical origins of dedicatory inscriptions, going back to classical Antiquity, and then considers the abuses which in more recent times had come to mar this practice (such as excessive flattery on the part of authors). One of the interlocutors, Critone, argues that authors must not be moved by considerations of financial gain and attacks the invention of printing for having vulgarized literature. He defends the traditional view of authors as belonging to a disinterested, aristocratic élite. His opponent in the Dialogue, Francesco Porta, who is introduced as a printer with great practical experience, argues that authors are entitled to dedicate their books in the hope of obtaining legitimate remuneration for their work, just as lawyers and doctors charge fees from their clients. A third interlocutor, Eugenio, sides with Porta and praises the opening up of literary culture ushered in by the art of printing, which meant that everyone could now benefit from a book, not just its dedicatee. Eugenio, advocating a more modern concept of authorship, also argues that dedications of works should not merely consist of praises for the dedicatee but be addressed to the public as a whole. Fratta himself tried to live up to this concept in the dedication of his poem of 1592 'La Malteide' to Ranuccio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, where he avoids praising this prince in too florid terms and puts his work in a historical context for the benefit of his readers. Although the Dialogue does not seem to have left much of an impression on Fratta's contemporaries, it is an important document reflecting changing attitudes towards the writer as courtier and the market opened up by printing.

Commentary: No commentaries for this record.

Bibliography:

Santoro, Marco, 'Contro l'abuso delle dediche. 'Della dedicatione de' libri' di Giovanni Fratta', in 'Paratesto. Rivista internazionale' 1 (2004): 99-120
Richardson, Brian, 'Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
Lucas, Corinne, 'Vers une nouvelle image de l'écrivain: 'Della dedicatione de' libri' de Giovanni Fratta', in 'L'écrivain face à son public en France et en Italie à la Renaissance', 'Actes du colloque internationale de Tours', ed. by C.A. Fiorato and J.C. Margolin (Paris, 1989): 85-104