Epistolae ad familiares (Letters to Friends)

Epistolae ad familiares (Letters to Friends)

The recovery of ancient collections of letters provided new stylistic models for humanists eager to break with the medieval formularies that had until then structured letter-writing practices. Petrarch had uncovered Cicero’s Epistolae ad Atticum in 1345 in Verona, but it was only in 1392 that Coluccio Salutati brought to light the entire sixteen books that make up the Epistolae ad familiares. Beyond its exemplary style of Latin prose, this collection of letters provided invaluable historical information concerning the final years of the Roman Republic. The writing of the book was completed in Ferrara on 12 March 1468 by Gregorio Martinello de Buccassolo, as noted in the closing colophon. Little is known regarding the scribe, Gregorio Martinello, though he appears to have been a schoolmaster in Finale Emilia, just west of Ferrara, and seems to have transcribed a copy of Federico Frezzi’s epic poem of circa 1400, the Quadriregio.

Author: Cicero; Scribe: Gregorio Martinello (colophon on fol. 174v)

1468

Manuscript on parchment, 175 fols.

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 66

Ferrara, Italy