«Soprascripti de le lettere missive cominciando a magiori principi spirituali e temporali». Riflessioni sul paratesto nell’epistolografia del ’400.

Abstract

Despite the surge in epistolary studies in recent years, little attention has been dedicated to 15th century treatises. However, thanks to the publication of some important catalogues, i.e. Medieval and Renaissance Letter Treatises and Form Letters (Polak, 1993-2015) and the ISTC database, there is good reason to believe that this trend will soon change. As for texts written in the vernacular, the catalogues have made it possible to identify what may well be the first printed manual, the anonymous Trattato de li ditamini (ISTC it00427400), and with regard to manuscripts, the catalogues have traced one of the first ars epistolandi treatises from the Quattrocento (cod. 2333, Biblioteca Statale di Lucca) and identified a new early witness of Bartolomeo Miniatore’s well-known Formulario di epistole missive e responsive (cod. Harley 4168, British Library). Enlisting the Polak catalogue, this article examines a collection of headings written in the vernacular in and around Bologna in the last quarter of the 15th century. This type of treatise has been particularly neglected by critics, though such works can shed precious light on a key phase in the history of Renaissance epistle writing, i.e. that of the developments in the 14th and 15th century salutatio, one of the most theorised upon sections in mediaeval artes. From this short treatise (trattatello), in fact, there emerged a new form of epistle writing which differed from that traditionally used in manuals from the 13th and 14th centuries, one which in various ways resembles forms still in use today. This article offers a detailed description of the Soprascripti, providing an extensive extract in the appendix.