How to sell a poetry book twice? C. Tribrachi Mutinensis Bucolicon ad Johannem Vitéz

Abstract

Gaspare Tribraco (1439 – ca. 1493) is an almost completely neglected poet despite the fact that his Bucolicon was probably the first collection of eclogues ordered in an elaborate composition during the Quattrocento. Moreover, his eclogues have survived in two different arrangements, thus offering an extraordinary possibility to analyse the humanist poet’s methods of poetry book composition. His influence was strong not only among poets who knew Tribraco personally, like Tito Vespasiano Strozzi and Matteo Maria Boiardo. The real importance and impact of his work is reflected by his influence on poets who became part of the Neo-Latin bucolic canon, first of all Baptista Mantuanus. This study is the first attempt to thoroughly analyse the structure of both eclogue collections, as well as Tribraco’s relation to classical and medieval pastoral poetry.