Overview
Letters from Italian writer Giuseppe Baretti to a variety of correspondents, often addressing literary and political topics.
Dates
- Creation: 1762-1788
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English, Italian, and Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.5 linear feet (1 box)This collection consists of sixteen letters written by Baretti to a variety of correspondents. The letters are written variously in English, Italian, and Spanish, and the content is generally literary or political. Giambattista Biffi, item (1), and actor David Garrick, item (5), are the most prominent correspondents. Many of the letters have typescript transcripts or translations. The collection also includes Baretti's book contract with George Robinson, apparently for Easy Phraseology for the Use of Young Ladies, item (7).
Biographical / Historical
Giuseppe Marco Antonio Baretti (1719-1789) was a native of Turin, Italy. After beginning his literary career in Italy, he removed to London in 1751. There he served as an Italian language tutor, and soon became a member of Samuel Johnson's literary circle. After publishing A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages (1760), he returned to Italy for five years, where he courted controversy with his literary periodical La Frusta Letteraria. He settled in London permanently in 1765. In 1769, he stabbed a man to death in a street brawl, but was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense with the help of character testimony from Johnson and other members of the Literary Club. From 1773 to 1776, he served as a live-in Italian tutor in the home of Henry and Hester Thrale.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2003JM-58 (part). Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.
Processing Information
Processed by: Rick Stattler
- Title
- Baretti, Giuseppe Marco Antonio, 1719-1789. Giuseppe Marco Antonio Baretti letters, 1762-1788: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01743
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu