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BARETTI, GIUSEPPE (1719-1789). Discours sur Shakespeare et sur monsieur de Voltaire par Joseph Baretti secretaire pour la correspondence etrangere de l'academie royale britannique ...
Londres : chez J. Nourse, et à Paris, chez Durand neveu,, 1777, First edition. Octavo (21 cm); [4],185,[1] pages. Bound in old wrappers, worn, discolored, frayed, and backstrip perished. PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on half-title "The Gift of the Author to Thomas Campbell" in Campbell's hand. The upper wrap is further inscribed by Campbell's brother's descendant, dated 1928, "This pamphlet was given by [Baretti] to the Rev. Thomas Campbell probably in 1777 or in 1781, when Campbell was in London to se Dr. Johnson..." The note proceeds to account for the ownership of the volume through the Campbell family, and gives a brief sketch of Thomas Campbell's career, and quotes a 1781 entry in his diary, "I went to see Dr. Johnson, found him alone. Baretti came soon after." Contents fresh. ¶ The combatative Giuseppe Baretti held strong views about his French contemporary, Voltaire. Baretti's career had been marked by literary feuds on the continent, and close friendships in England with Johnson and his circle. When Voltaire criticized a French translation of Shakespeare, Baretti retaliated with this booklet. It is, according to the Oxford DNB, "Baretti's most important work of [his late] period." The article continues, "Baretti's Discours sur Shakespeare et sur Monsieur de Voltaire attacked Voltaire for his lack of appreciation of Shakespeare's artistic merit, and for his limited knowledge of the English language and therefore of Shakespeare's plays. Baretti's decision to write the work in French (a language Johnson felt that Baretti knew as fluently as English) meant that it was accessible to readers on the continent, including Italy, where the classical tradition held sway and Shakespeare's plays were still very little known." Baretti is credited with raising Shakespeare's profile in Europe. Thomas Campbell, who owned this copy, is reckoned in the Oxford DNB as "one of the best pulpit orators in Ireland."
Offered for US$ 350.00 by: Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio - Book number: 4917
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