The Letters of Giacomo Leopardi 1817-1837 (Italian Perspectives (Maney)) by Prue Shaw

Author:Prue Shaw [Shaw, Prue]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780901286970
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017-12-01T23:00:00+00:00

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His cousin Peppe had been supervising the printing of Leopardi’s ‘Annotations on the Chronicle of Eusebius’ in Rome: Leopardi was appalled at the final bill He adopted a man-of-the-world air to cheer him up in his affairs of the heart.

To Giuseppe Melchiorri · Rome

Recanati, 19th December 1823

Dear Peppino. I received your letter of the 6th, together with the copy of the Eusebius, on which you very generously paid the postage, not remembering that you were sending it for my convenience and my benefit only.1 I enclose the Errata list; in printing it please be so kind as to continue the favours you did me in printing the rest, making sure that it is accurate and there are no mistakes; in the Errata they would be more damaging than ever. I leave it in your hands. Although the Errata list, as you will see, is fairly substantial, nevertheless you can tell De Romanis that I was very pleased with the proof correction, because the mistakes are of no great consequence. I also enclose the design for the title page. I’ll be pleased if you will ask De Romanis to leave out Reprinted from the Roman Effemeridi etc., if it is not against the regulations to do so, and if he wants to do me this favour. I mean please ask him not to put these words on the title page. As for the price of the copies, which all together is supposed to come to 17 scudi, I found it a little surprising. You told me that the printing of your Nibby Esame cost you four or five scudi all told. It’s true that my little book contains roughly twice as many sheets: but there is a big difference between having to pay for the whole printing done from scratch, and paying only for the paper and for running off some copies. Your Esame was full of Greek like my little book, but even if that had not been the case, the Greek and any other difficulties come under the type-setting, the costs of which are not to be paid by me. You told me yourself that my outlay could not be more than five or six scudi. There’s a big difference between 6 and 17. You inform me that 170 copies were printed. You are my witness that I ordered only a hundred, which in any case leaves me with some to spare. The other seventy are no use to me, and are not mine. There’s no argument about this. As it’s a matter of my having to pay only for running off the copies and for the paper, seventy fewer copies should reduce the total price by a good two fifths. This seems obvious to me too. Please pass these comments on to De Romanis. I’ll pay punctually what in the light of all this you agree and settle with him. Please however tell De Romanis that I’d like him to give me a little time. Shortly before receiving

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