472 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1876. 



Some of Father Garrncci's opinions may be dis- 

 puted, and some of bis interpretations may 

 seem somewhat arbitrary ; and it would have 

 been as well had the illustrations been strict 

 fac-similes, and not undergone any arrangement 

 whatever ; but this fault is not for a moment 

 to be weighed against the immense archaeologi- 

 cal erudition of Father Garrucci, the great im- 

 portance of some of the illustrations, which are 

 now for the first time given to the world in 

 his book, and the subtile ingenuity of some of 

 his remarks ; above all, there is the very solid 

 and important fact that never, until now, has 

 so rich or so interesting a collection of ma- 

 terials been brought together to illustrate Chris- 

 tian art from the earliest ages of the Church. 

 This work, to which all the great libraries of 

 Europe have subscribed, will, when complete, 

 contain one hundred parts in folio, and the 

 price will be five hundred francs. 



From Naples we have received the first part 

 of another archaeological work, "Le Rovine di 

 Pompej ; " the illustrations are drawn and en- 

 graved by Giuseppe Solari and Eugenio Leone. 

 This work, when finished, will contain upward 

 of a thousand woodcuts, distributed through 

 sixty sheets of letter-press. The present speci- 

 men-number does not give promise of much 

 learning; but it is, at all events, well illus- 

 trated, the objects are carefully described, and 

 the book will be suitable to general readers, on 

 account of the cuts and of the extreme, almost 

 elementary, clearness of the explanations. 



Two excellent archaaological monographs, in 

 quarto, have recently appeared : one of them, 

 u I Sigilli Antichi Romani raccolti e publicati 

 da Vittorio Poggi," with eleven pages of illus- 

 tration; the other, " Le Antiche Lapidi di Ber- 

 gamo descritte ed illustrate dal Canonico Gio- 

 vanni Finazzi." Both of them are works of 

 solid erudition and conscientious labor. 



In this place I must especially mention the 

 last volume in quarto of the " Documenti di 

 Storia Italiana," published by the Historical 

 Commission of Tuscany, Umbria, and the 

 Marches. I must not omit the first volume in 

 quarto of the " Biblioteca Historica Italiana," 

 published in an elegant form by the Lombard 

 Historical Society. It has an instructive pref- 

 ace, written by A. Cerruti; and it also con- 

 tains chronicles and historical monographs. 



Last year I announced the first volume of 

 the " Storia della Diplomazia della Corte di 

 Savoia," by Domenico Carutti. This eminent 

 historian, who is a member of the Council of 

 State at Rome, has now lately given to the 

 world the second volume of the work. This 

 volume treats of the events of 1601-'63, that is 

 to say, the stormy period for the House of Sa- 

 voy during the reigns of Charles Emanuel 

 I., of Victor Amadens I., and of Madama Reale. 

 Sgr. Carutti always goes for his materials to 

 trustworthy sources, and turns to the best ac- 

 count the dispatches of embassadors. 



Almost at the same time that Sgr. Bianchi is 

 introducing us, through his most inestimable 



work, to the treasures of the Piedmontese ar- 

 chives, two archivists of Venice, Sgr. F. Tode- 

 rini, and Sgr. Bartolomeo Cecchetti, the present 

 excellent keeper of the Venetian Archives, have 

 given to the world an account of the archives 

 under their care, in a volume which is worthy 

 of all commendation. It is entitled "L'Ar- 

 chivio di Stato in Venezia nel Decennio 1866- 

 '76." It gives evidence of the immense interest 

 possessed by the mass of historical papers 

 which are kept in Venice, and it also bears 

 witness to the care and pains that have been 

 bestowed upon them since the deliverance of 

 Venice from the Austrian yoke. 



It is thus that Sgr. Domenico Berti, deputy to 

 Parliament, and also Professor of History of 

 Philosophy at the University of Rome, has at 

 last given to the world, for the first time, an 

 exact and complete copy of the " Processo 

 Originale di Galileo Galilei," with an excellent 

 commentary upon the same. Certain orthodox 

 critics, who have not seen the work, have pre- 

 cipitately declared that the announcement of 

 this book is merely an Italian hoax. The same 

 author, some months previously, published a 

 perfect model of an historical monograph, un- 

 der the title of " Copernico e le Vicende del 

 Sistema Copernicano in Italia nella seconda 

 meta del Secolo XVl m e nella prima del 

 XVII mo ." Thus the two grand characters of 

 Copernicus and of Galileo are both faithfully 

 delineated in these eloquent and masterly his- 

 tories by the same writer. 



Among the best works of history that have 

 appeared in the course of the present year is 

 the first volume of a very important work, by 

 Prof. Bartolomeo Malfatti. It is entitled " Im- 

 peratori e Papi ai Tempi della Signoria dei 

 Franchi in Italia. 1 ' Immense labor has been 

 bestowed upon this first volume ; it is written 

 in the highest style of criticism, and every page 

 bears the impress of impartiality. I must also 

 mention the recent numbers of the always 

 attractive " Cronistoria dell' Indipendcnza 

 Italiana," by our aged but still indefatigable 

 and illustrioiis historian, Cesare Cantu ; and 

 the eighth edition of Sgr. Amari's celebrated 

 work, entitled " La Guerra del Vespro Sicili- 

 ano," with many important additions and cor- 

 rections, which may now be considered as 

 final. 



All that can be said on the whole of Italian 

 publications is, that the book-trade in Italy 

 seems to be growing more and more brisk, 

 owing to several circumstances, which may be 

 briefly summed up as follows : first, the gener- 

 al awakening of Italy ; secondly, the number 

 of publishers, which is always on the increase ; 

 thirdly, the public becomes more eager after 

 new works ; fourthly, there are authors who 

 are content to receive a nominal price for their 

 work, sometimes they are content to receive 

 nothing at all, and sometimes they even gladly 

 pay the expense of publication, for the sole 

 pleasure of seeing their book well got up, and 

 brought out by a good publisher. It is seldom, 



