The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.Fagan, Louis
History
The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.
Fagan, Louis
Panizzi, Anthony, Sir, 1797-1879
Believe me, &c.,
A. PANIZZI.”
“P.S.—I know Lord Clarendon is staying with you. Please show him this:
I am sure he will see that it is done—I mean for you.”
The hopes thus expressed were realized, as, on the 27th of February of
the following year (1857), Sir George C. Lewis was appointed one of the
Trustees of our famous Institution.
And here may be given an extract from a letter of J. A. Carlyle (Thomas
Carlyle’s brother), also on the topic of Dante’s poems, which deserves
recognition, as a proof of the esteem in which Panizzi was universally
held, in especial by Englishmen.
“20th December, 1848.
“I really wish you could find leisure to write something expressly
concerning the times in which Dante lived. You could do it better than
any other person, and it has now become very necessary.”
[Illustration: Francesco Raibolini]
And now, let us proceed to another publication. In the year 1858 Panizzi
issued, for his friends, a charming little work, beautifully printed,
also by Charles Whittingham.
Written in Italian, and dedicated to H.R.H. the Duke d’Aumale, only 250
copies were printed, under the title of _Chi era Francesco da
Bologna?_—proving, so far as the question could be then proved, that the
said Francesco da Bologna was no other than the celebrated painter.
Francesco Raibolini, born about 1450, and commonly called _il Francia_.
The name of _Francia_ he derived from his master, a goldsmith, die, and
niello engraver. According to Vasari and a document discovered by Calvi,
his death took place on the 6th of January, 1517.[N] Francesco Raibolini
was at once, in common with many of his compeers, goldsmith and
type-cutter, as well as a painter, and to his skilful hands, Aldus,
whose name they bear, was indebted for his characters. From Panizzi, we
learn that, “at the end of the short Preface prefixed by Aldus to his
first edition of Virgil (1501), printed in the cursive or secretarial
characters _manum mentientes_, afterwards generally known by the name of
Aldine, are the following three verses:—
IN GRAMMATOGLYPTÆ
LAUDEM.
“Qui graiis dedit Aldus, en latinis
Dat nunc grammata scalpta dædaleis
Francisci manibus Bononiensis,”
(Translation). In praise of the type-engraver. Aldus now gives to the
Latins, as he gave to the Greeks, letters graven by the _dædal_ hands
of Francesco da Bologna.
Besides cutting types, Francesco used them too, for he set up a press at
his native town, Bologna, in 1516, and printed several works, now rare,
as, for instance, “Il Canzoniere” of Petrarch, “L’Arcadia di Sannazaro”
and “Gli Asolani” of Bembo, “Il Corbaccio” and the “Epistolæ ad
Familiares” of Cicero.
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Footnote N:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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