The Arezzo-printed edition of Lodovico Antonio Muratori’s works (1767-1780)

Abstract

Published in 36 volumes between 1767 and 1780, the edition of Lodovico Antonio Muratori’s works is the main product of Arezzo’s ancient typography. Based on original documents owned by Episcopal Seminary of Arezzo, the essay shows the leading actors and the story of the project. The bishop Jacopo Gaetano Inghirami decides to renovate the Seminary’s plan of study through some updated teaching material. Thanks to a clever editorial policy, the expertise of the printer Michele Bellotti and a well-designed distribution network, the publication becomes a commercial product in great demand: in a few months it gets 288 buyers in Italy and abroad. After bishop Inghirami’s death in 1772, Episcopal Seminary of Arezzo and ‘Collegio Serristori’ of Castiglion Fiorentino
become the new editors. They buy from ‘Società Palatina di Milano’ the original matrices used for the illustrations of the very first editions of Muratori’s masterpieces: Rerum Italicarum Scriptores and Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi. In order to sell the unsold, the editors also swap lots of volumes with selected books by many italians booksellers’ sale catalogues. As many of these books are requested for school use, this practice shows the attention of Seminary’s education to scientific arguments and Enlightenment’s issues. Unfortunately, because of increasing economic problems and printer’s death, the editors decide to stop the publication to the detriment of original project.