Selected Letters (Volume 54)

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series #54

by Isabella D’Este, Deanna Shemek (Editor)

Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), daughter of the Este dukes of Ferrara and wife of Marchese Francesco II Gonzaga of Mantua, co-regent of the Gonzaga state, art collector, musician, diplomat, dynastic mother, traveler, reader, gardener, fashion innovator, and consummate politician, was also, as this volume attests, a prolific letter writer with a highly developed epistolary network. Presented here for the first time in any language is a representative selection from over 16,000 letters sent by Isabella to addressees across a wide social spectrum. Together, they paint a nuanced and colorful portrait of a brilliant and influential female protagonist of early modern European society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Italy, Art

692 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2017

Reviews

[a duck · Rating 5 out of 5]

An invaluable resource of transcribed and translated letters written by one of the most active letter writers in the Renaissance.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Wish there were more of Isabella d'Este's letters translated, with context. There was a website but it looks like it ran into legal problems or something? I can't imagine what would be holding them back.

I do kind of wish collections of correspondence would include letters to or about the letter writer, though in this case it's understandable why they didn't: Isabella d'Este wrote (or dictated) a few tens of thousands of letters over the course of her life, and even at 700 pages we're only going to get a small sample.

[Dylan Vieites Glennon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dissertation source (something I've read more times than I care to think about).