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SKILLNET – Sharing Knowledge in Learned and Literary Networks

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Sources for Early Modern Letters

Introduction

Some treatises on the art of letter writing

Editions

Some printed inventories

Some major European sources for early modern letters and how to consult them

Some secondary literature

Introduction

This list contains Northern European sources and secondary literature concerning humanist letters. It does not pretend – or even aspire – to completeness. Because the compiler, Dirk van Miert, began with Joseph Scaliger, many Italian and British sources are absent. Most of Scaliger’s correspondence is with French, Dutch and German scholars, but many printed letter collections from these countries have not been included here. If you would like to have a title or link added or updated, please contact the project management assistant, Robin Buning. This list is intended to provide examples of completed work and of work in preparation. Nevertheless, it is hoped that these references to online catalogues, inventories and editions will prove useful. Sources from the Netherlands receive particular attention here. This bias, a personal one, highlights a number of Dutch sources which are often overlooked. Of the early-modern editions, only some 18th century anthologies have been included.

A first version of this list was published on the website of the Warburg Institute. The list below is an updated version.

Some treatises on the art of letter writing

  • 1522: Desiderius Erasmus, De conscribendis epistolis, ed. J. C. Margolin, in ASD [= Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami], vol. I-2, Amsterdam, 1971, 153-579; translation by Charles Fantazzi in J.K. Sowards (ed.), CWE [= Collected Works of Erasmus], vol. 25, Toronto, 1985, 1-254.
  • 1534: Juan Luis Vives, De conscribendis epistolis, ed. and transl. Charles Fantazzi, Leiden-New York, 1989.
  • 1591: Justus Lipsius, Epistolica Institutio. Principles of Letter-Writing, ed. and transl. R.V. Young and M. Thomas Hester, Carbondale-Edwardsville, 1996.
  • 1641: Jean Puget de La Serre, Le secrétaire à la mode, Paris, 1641 (the Rouen 1651 edition can be consulted here).

Editions

Some 18th- and 19th-century collections of edited letters:

  • Burmannus, Petrus (ed.), Sylloges Epistolarum tomi quinque, 5 vols, Leiden, 1727.
  • Freytag, T.F. (ed.), Virorum doctorum epistolae selectae, Leipzig, 1831.
  • Meel, J.G. (ed.), Insignium virorum epistolae selectae quae nunc primum prodeunt, Amsterdam, 1701.

Some 19th-century editions:

Note: The 19th-century editions are not always trustworthy. Tamizey de Larroque in his edition of Scaliger letters, for instance, leaves out whole passages (especially with Greek in it) without giving any notice.

  • BRAHE: F.R. Friis (ed.), Tychonis Brahei et ad eum doctorum virorum Epistolae ab anno 1568 ad annum 1587, 4 vols, Copenhagen, 1876-1886.
  • CHAPELAIN: Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres de Jean Chapelain, de l’Académie française, Paris. 1880-1883.
  • CRATO: P.F.X. de Ram (ed.), Ad Thomam Redigerum et Joannem Cratonem epistolae: accedunt Remberti Dodonaei, Abrahami Ortelii, Gerardi Mercatoris et Ariae Montani ad eumdem Cratonem epistolae, Brussels, 1847.
  • MURETUS: M. Antonii Mureti Epistolae, ad optimarum editionum fidem accurate editae, Leipzig, 1838.
  • LINNAEUS: James Edward Smith (ed.), A selection of the correspondence of Linnaeus and other naturalists, from the original manuscripts, London, 1821; H.C. van Hall (ed.), Epistolae ineditae, Groningen, 1830; C.N.J. von Schreibers (ed.), Epistolae ad N.J. Jacquin, Wittenberg, 1841.
  • ORTELIUS: Joannes Henricus Hessels (ed.), Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum, vol. 1: Abrahami Ortelii (geographi Antverpiensis) et virorum eruditorum ad eundem et ad Jacobum Colium Ortelianum (Abrahami Ortelii sororis filium) epistulae: cum aliquot aliis epistulis et tractatibus quibusdam ab utroque collectis (1524-1628), Cambridge, 1887.
  • PEIRESC: Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres de Peiresc, 7 vols, Paris, 1888-1898.
  • Letters to PEIRESC: Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Les correspondants de Peiresc, Paris, 1879-1897 (repr. Geneva, 1972).
  • RHENANUS: Adalbert Horawitz and Karl Hartfelder (eds), Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, Leipzig, 1886 (a new edition is being prepared by James Hirstein, the first volume of which has been published).
  • SCALIGER: Ph. Tamizey de Larroque (ed.), Lettres françaises inédites de Joseph Scaliger, Agen-Paris, 1879.

Some 20th-century editions:

  • AGUSTÍN: C. Flores Sellés (ed.), Epistolario de Antonio Agustín, Salamanca, 1980.
  • ARLIER: J.N. Pendergrass (ed.), Correspondance d’Antoine Arlier, humaniste Languedocien, 1527-1545, Geneva, 1990.
  • BARBARO: Vittore Branca (ed.), Ermolao Barbaro: Epistolae, orationes et carmina, 2 vols, Florence, 1943.
  • CHAPELAIN: Bernard Bray (ed.), Jean Chapelain. Soixante-dix-sept lettres inédités à Nicolas Heinsius (1649-1658), The Hague, 1966 (see also under Some 21st-century editions).
  • CHOMPRÉ: see RAYNAL.
  • CLERC/CLERICUS: see LECLERC.
  • CLUSIUS: J.L. Barona  and X. Gómez Font (eds), La correspondencia de Carolus Clusius con los scientíficos españoles, Valencia, 1998.
  • DOLET: Etienne Dolet, Correspondance. Répertoire analytique et chronologique suivi du texte de ses lettres latines, ed. Claude Longeon, Geneva, 1982.
  • DUPUY, CHRISTOPHE: Kathryn Willis Wolfe and Phillip J. Wolfe (eds), Humanisme et politique. Lettres Romaines de Christophe Dupuy à ses frères, 2 vols, Paris etc., 1988-1997.
  • Letters to the DUPUY BROTHERS: Philippe Fortin de la Hoguette (ed.), Lettres aux frères Dupuy et à leur entourage (1623-1662), 2 vols, Florence, 1997.
  • DUPUY, JACQUES: see HEINSIUS; NAUDÉ.
  • ENZINAS: Francisco de Enzinas, Epistolario, ed. Ignacio J. García Pinilla, Geneva, 1995.
  • ERASMUS: P.C. Allen, H.-M. Allen and H.W. Garrod (eds), Opus Epistolarum Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami, 12 vols, Oxford, 1906-1947. An English translation appears in CWE [= Collected Works of Erasmus], Toronto, 1974-; a French translation, which has been completed, is: A. Gerlo, La Correspondance d’Érasme, 12 vols, Brussels, 1967-1984. A Dutch translation is currently being prepared: De correspondentie van Desiderius Erasmus, Rotterdam, 2004- (vols 1-13 have been published online in the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (DBNL)).
  • GAGUINUS: P. de Nolhac & L. Dorez, Roberti Gaguini Epistole et Orationes. Texte publié sur les éditions originales de 1498, précédé d’une notice biographique et suivi de pièces diverses en partie inédites, par L. Thuasne, 2 vols., Paris 1903.
  • GERMAIN: John Paul McDonald (ed.), Dom Michel Germain. Lettres d’Italie (1685-1686), Firenze 1992.
  • GROTIUS: P. C. Molhuysen et al. (eds), Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, 17 vols., The Hague 1928-2003.
  • HEINSIUS, NICOLAAS: Hans Bots (ed.), Correspondance de Jacques Dupuy et de Nicolas Heinsius (1646-1656), The Hague, 1971. See also CHAPELAIN (here and under Some 21st-century editions).
  • HUYGENS, CONSTANTIJN: J. A. Worp (ed.), De briefwisseling van Constantijn Huygens, 1608-1697, 6 vols., The Hague 1911-1917. (Many letters are only paraphrased (in Dutch!); see also under Some online inventories and correspondences.)
  • KEPLER: Max Casper (ed.), Briefe (Johannes Kepler’s Gesammelte Werken, Bd. 13-18) München 1945-1959.
  • LECLERC: Mario Sina et al. (eds), Jean le Clerc. Epistolario, 4 vols., Firenze 1987-1997.
  • LIPSIUS: Aloïs Gerlo et Hendrik D.L. Vervliet (ed.), La Correspondance de Juste-Lipse conservée au Musée Plantin-Moretus, Anvers 1967.
  • MORE: Elizabeth F. Rogers (ed.), Sir Thomas More. Correspondence, New Haven 1947.
  • NAUDÉ: Phillip Wolfe (ed.), Lettres de Gabriel Naudé à Jacques Dupuy (1632-1652), Edmonton 1982.
  • PEIRESC: Agnès Bresson (ed.), Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. Lettres à Claude Saumaise et à son entourage (1620-1637), Firenze 1992.
  • PONTANUS: P. N. van Doorninck en P. C. Molhuysen (eds), Brieven van en aan Jo. Is. Pontanus 1591-1639, Haarlem 1909. (Many letters are only paraphrased (in Dutch!))
  • RAYNAL: Emile Lizé & E. Wahl (eds) Inédits de correspondances littéraires. G. T. Raynal (1751-1753). N. M. Chompré (1774-1780), Paris-Genève 1988.
  • RIVET and SALMASIUS: Pierre Leroy et Hans Bots, avec Els Peters (eds), Claude Saumaise et André Rivet: correspondance échangée entre 1632 et 1648, Amsterdam 1987.
  • RIVET and SARRAU: Hans Bots et Pierre Leroy (eds), Correspondance intégrale d’André Rivet et de Claude Sarrau, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1978-1982.
  • ROMANUS: P. Bockstaele, ‘The Correspondence of Adriaan van Roomen’, LIAS 3 (1976), 85-129; 249-299; ‘Corrections and additions, 1594-1615’, LIAS 19 (1992), 3-20.
  • SCRIBANI: L. Brouwers S.J. (ed.), Brieven van Carolus Scribani (1561-1629), Anwerpen 1972.
  • TORRENTIUS: Marie Delcourt et Jean Hoyoux (eds), Laevinus Torrentius. Correspondance, 3 vols., Paris 1950-1954.

Some 21st-century editions:

  • AGRICOLA: Adrie van der Laan & Fokke Akkerman (ed. and transl.), Rudolph Agricola. Letters (Bibliotheca Latinitatis Novae), Assen-Tempe 2002.
  • ARIAS MONTANO: A. Dávila Pérez (ed. y trad.), Correspondencia conservada en el Museo Plantin-Moretus de Amberes, Madrid 2002.
  • BASNAGE: Myriam Silvera (ed.), Jacques Basnage. Corrispondenza da Rotterdam, 1685-1709, Amsterdam-Maarssen 2000.
  • CHAPELAIN: Bernard Bray (ed.), Jean Chapelain, Les letters authentiques à Nicolas Heinsius (1649-1672): une amitié érudite entre France et Hollande, Paris 2005.
  • DUPUY: see PINELLI
  • FILELFO: Francesco Filelfo, Collected Letters. Epistolarum Libri XLVIII, ed. Jeroen De Keyser, 4 vols, Alessandria, 2015.
  • [VON HUTTEN]: Jean-Christophe Saladin (ed.), Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum: Ulrich von Hutten, Lettres des hommes obscurs, Paris 2004.
  • JUNIUS F.F.: Sophie van Romburgh (ed.), “For my Worthy Freind Mr Franciscus Junius”: An Edition of the Correspondence of Francis Junius F.F. (1591-1677), Leiden-Boston, 2004.
  • PELL: Noel Malcolm and Jacqueline Stedall, John Pell (1611-1685) and his correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish. The mental world of an early modern mathematician, Oxford 2005.
  • PINELLI and DUPUY: Anna Maria Raugei (ed.), Gian Vincenzo Pinelli et Claude Dupuy. Une correspondance entre deux humanistes, 2 vols., [Firenze] 2001.
  • RHENANUS: J. Hirstein (ed. and transl.), Epistulae Beati Rhenani. La Correspondance latine et grecque de Beatus Rhenanus de Sélestat. Volume 1 (1506-1517), Turnhout, 2013.
  • SCALIGER: Paul Botley and Dirk van Miert (eds), The Correspondence of Joseph Scaliger (1549-1609), London-Leiden, 2012 (online inventory in Early Modern Letters Online).
  • SEPULVEDA: J.J. Valverde Abril (ed.), Io. Genesius Sepulveda. Epistolarum libri septem, (Bibliotheca Teubneriana) München-Leipzig 2003.
  • VERZOSA: Eduardo del Pino González (ed.), Juan de Verzosa, Epístolas, 3 vols., Introducción, edición crítica, traducción anotada e índices Alcañiz-Madrid, 2006.

Some current editions:

  • AMERBACH (Bonifacius): A. Hartmann, B. R. Jenny (eds), Die Amerbachkorrespondenz, Basel 1942 – .
  • BEZA: Correspondance de Th. de Bèze, H. Aubert et al. (eds), Geneva, 1960-.
  • DANTISCUS: J. Axer with A. Skolimowska (eds), Corpus epistularum Ioannis Dantisci, Warsaw 2004 – .
  • HARTLIB: The Hartlib Papers, including transcriptions of the correspondence of Samuel Hartlib: www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib (online inventory in Early Modern Letters Online).
  • KIRCHER: see http://kircher.stanford.edu
  • LINNAEUS: [London-Uppsala: http://linnaeus.c18.net and http://linnean-online.org/correspondence.html]
  • LIPSIUS: A. Gerlo et al. (J. De Landtsheer) (eds), Iusti Lipsi Epistolae [19 vols.], Brussels 1978-.
  • MARNIX: A. Gerlo & R. De Smet (eds), Marnixi Epistulae: de briefwisseling van Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde 1558-1576 [5 vols.], Brussel 1990-2017.
  • MELANCHTHON: H. Scheible(ed.), Melanchthon’s Briefwechsel, Stuttgart 1977-.
  • PIRCKHEIMER: Emil Reicke, et. al. (eds), Willibard Pirckheimer. Briefwechsel, [7 vols]. München 1940-[2008] (vol. 6 appeared in 2004).
  • USSHER: E. Boran (ed.) [Dublin, Trinity College].

Some printed inventories

  • BARLAEUS: K. van der Horst, Inventaire de la correspondance de Caspar Barlaeus (1602-1648), Assen, 1978.
  • DALÉCHAMPS: Charles B. Schmitt, ‘The Correspondence of Jacques Daléchamps (1513-1588)’, Viator 8 (1977), 399-434: 409-434.
  • GRONOVIUS: P. Dibon, H. Bots and E. Bots-Estourgie, Inventaire de la correspondance de Joh. F. Gronovius (1631-1671), The Hague, 1974.
  • LIPSIUS: Aloïs Gerlo and Hendrik D.L. Vervliet, Inventaire de la correspondance de Juste Lipse 1564-1606, Antwerp, 1968.
  • RIVET: Paul Dibon, with E. Bots-Estourgie and H. Bots, Inventaire de la correspondance d’André Rivet (1595-1650), The Hague, 1971.
  • VOSSIUS, Gerardus Joannes: G.A.C. van der Lem and C.S.M. Rademaker ss.cc., Inventory of the Correspondence of Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577-1649), Assen-Maastricht, 1993 (online version in Early Modern Letters Online).

Some major European sources for early modern letters and how to consult them

Some library catalogues:

  • ERLANGEN: Universitätsbibliothek: Briefsammlung Trew. A collection of hundreds of early modern manuscript letters. See the printed catalogue: Eleonore Schmidt-Herrling (bearb.), Die Briefsammlung des Nürnberger Arztes Christoph Jacob Trew, 1695-1769, in der Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen, (Katalog der Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen, Bd. 5), Erlangen 1940. (copies of letters can be ordered from the commercial publisher Harald Fischer-Verlag: www.haraldfischerverlag.de; they cost some 15 euro’s per page).
  • HAMBURG: Uffenbach-Wolfsche Briefsammlung. A collection of thousands of early modern manuscript letters. See the printed catalogue: N. Krüger, Supellex epistolica Uffenbachii et Wolfiorum, 2 vols., Hamburg 1978.
  • LEIDEN: Apparatus Molhuysen. A card-file system containing thousands of references to printed letters of early modern scholars who (had) lived in The Netherlands. The files are not digitized: they are found at the far end of the Rare Books & Manuscripts Department (Dousa) ; there is an index available which lists most of the works Molhuysen consulted, but this booklet, bound in brown cloth, is hard to find, as it is kept on a shelf at the other end of the room and bears no title.
  • LONDON, British Library: has numerous collections with thousands of manuscript letters. Among the richest are:
  • The MSS of CharlesBurney. Printed catalogue: Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I, part 2. The Burney Manuscripts, London 1840. Bound and indexed jointly with the Arundel MSS.
  • The MSS of Robert Harley MSS. Printed catalogues: A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum,4 vols., London 1808-1812. An Index to Volumes of Autograph Letters in the Harleian Collection is held in the Manuscripts Reading Room at shelf 1d.
  • The MSS of Hans Sloane (Additional MSS 5018-5027, 5214-5308 are from Sloane’s collection, but are described as Additional MSS): Catalogues: S. Ayscough, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the British Museum, 2 vols., London 1782. Arranged by subject ; E. J. L. Scott, Index to the Sloane manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1904.
  • Always make sure to check the Index of Manuscripts in the British Library, 10 vols., Cambridge 1984-1986, which should cover most of the older catalogues. Also consult the online ms. catalogue of the BL: www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts, as the printed and online mss. do not cover each other for a 100 percent.
  • MUNICH, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: Collectio Camerariana. A collection of thousands of early modern manuscript letters. The only access is the 19th century printed catalogue, which has an extremely unreliable index. Do not forget to browse through the pages yourself: Carolus Halm et Gulielmus Meyer, Catalogus Codicum Latinorum Bibliothecae Regiae Monacensis, II.1, Clm 8101-10930, München 1874.
  • PARIS: Bibliothèque National, Collection Dupuy. A collection of thousands and thousands of early modern manuscript letters. The 1899 printed catalogue plus the 1928 index hereon (Leon Dorez, Bibliothèque National. Catalogue de la Collection Dupuy, 2 vols., Paris 1899; Leon Dorez, Bibliothèque National. Catalogue de la Collection Dupuy/ Table Alphabétique par S. Solente, Paris 1928) is (most of the time) online availably in pdf: http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=BnF&O=NUMM-209160; see under ‘Dupuy’: it has volume one (nos. 1-500), volume two (nos. 501-958) and the alphabetical index. Note that the BnF website is slow and that the pdf-pages often do not appear at all: one has to bepatient and try several times.
  • ITER ITALICUM: An indispensable source for searching manuscripts in European libraries is P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum; accedunt alia itinera. A finding list of uncatalogued or incompletely catalogued humanistic manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other libraries, 6 vols. & indexes, London 1963-1997. The work is digitized and can be consulted on the website of ITER. Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (www.itergateway.org) for those individuals and institutes who are affiliated.

Some national online catalogues of manuscript letters:

Some online inventories and correspondences:

Some secondary literature

  • Akkerman, Fokke, ‘De Neolatijnse epistolografie – Rudolf Agricola’, Lampas 18, 1985, 321-337.
  • Allen, Percy S. ‘Some letters of Masters and Scholars, 1500-1530’, English Historical Review 22 (1907) 740-54.
  • Ammermann, M. ‘Gelehrten-Briefe des 17. und frühen 18. Jahrhunderts’, Wolfenbütteler Schriften zur Geschichte des Buchwesens 9, 1983, 81-96.
  • Bartlett, Kenneth R. and Margaret McGlynn (eds), Humanism and the Northern Renaissance, Toronto 2000, chapters 6, 8, 26, 28, 32.
  • Berg, Wim van den ‘Briefreflectie en briefinstructie’, Documentatieblad werkgroep 18e eeuw 38, 1978, 1-22.
  • Beugnot, B., ‘Débats autour du genre épistolair. Realité et écriture’, Revue d’Histoire Littéraire de la France 74, 1974, 195-202.
  • Bossis, Mireille, ‘Methodological Journeys Through Correspondences’, Yale French Studies 71, 1986, 63-75.
  • Bots, J.A.H.G.M., Republiek der Letteren. Ideaal en werkelijkheid, Amsterdam, 1977.
  • Bracke, W., ‘Fare la Epistolae’, nella Roma del Quattrocentro, Rome 1992.
  • Bray, B. ‘L’enquête des Correspondences’, Le XVIIe siècle et la recherche: actes du 6ème colloque de Marseille, Marseille 1976, 65-78.
  • Bray, B. ‘La louange, exigence de civilité et pratique épistolaire au XVIIème siècle’, XVIIe siècle 42, 1990, 135-153.
  • Bürgel, Peter ‘Der Privatbrief. Entwurf eines heuristischen Modells’, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 50 (1976), 281-297.
  • Clough, Cecil H., ‘The cult of Antiquity: letters and letter collections’, in Cecil H. Clough (ed.), Cultural aspects of the Italian Renaissance, Manchester-New York 1976, 33-67.
  • Conde Salazar, Matilde, ‘La literatura epistolar como fuente historiográfica’, in: Maurilio Pérez González (ed.),Congreso internacional sobre Humanismo y Renacimiento, volumen I, León 1998, 255-262.
  • Constable, G., Letter and Letter-Collections, Turnhout 1976.
  • Cugusi, P., Evoluzione e forme dell’epistolografia latina. nella tarda Repubblica e nei primi due secoli dell’ impero, Roma 1983.
  • Daumas, M. ‘Manuels épistolaires et identité sociale (XVIe – XVIIe siècles)’, Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 40 (4), 1993, 529-556.
  • Dibon, Paul, ‘Les échanges épistolaires dans l’Europe savante du XVIIe siècle’, Revue de synthèse 81-82, 1976, 31-50.
  • Dibon, Paul, ‘Communication in the Respublica Literaria of the 17th Century’, Res publica litterarum. Studies in the classical tradition, I, 1978, 43-50
  • Dibon, Paul, ‘Les avatars d’une édition de correspondance: les Epistolae I. Casauboni de 1638’, Nouvelles de la République des Lettres, 1982, 2, 25-63.
  • Dibon, Paul ‘Communication épistolaire et mouvement des idées au XVIIe siècle’, Regards sur la Hollande du siècle d’or, Napels, 1990, 171-190.
  • Doty, W.G., ‘The Classificatin of epistolary Literature, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 31, 1969, 183-169.
  • [Erasmus]: La correspondance d’Érasme et l’épistolographie humaniste. Colloque international tenu en novembre 1983, Travaux de l’Institut Interuniversitaire pour l’étude de la Renaissance et de l’Humanisme 8, Brussels 1985.
  • L’épistolaire au xvie siècle, Paris 2001.
  • Fantazzi, Charles, ‘Vives versus Erasmus on the Art of Letter Writing’, in Toon Van Houdt et al. (eds), Self-presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times,Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia xviii, Leuven 2002, 39-56.
  • Fumaroli, Marc, ‘Genèse de l’épistolographie classique: rhétorique humaniste de la lettre, de Pétrarque à Juste Lipse’, Revue d’Histoire Littéraire de la France 78 (1978), 886-905.
  • Fumaroli, Marc ‘The Republic of Letters’, Diogenes 143, 1988, 129-152.
  • Gerlo, A. ‘The opus de conscribendis epistolis of Erasmus and the tradition of the ars epistolica’, R. R. Bolgar (ed.),Classical Influences of European Culture: Proceedings of an International Conference held at King’s College, Cambridge, April 1969, Cambridge 1972, 103-114.
  • Gualdo Rosa, L., ‘La pubblicazione degli epistolari umanistici: bilancio e prospettive’, Bulletino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo e Archivio Muratoriano 89, 1980-1981, 369-392.
  • Gualdo Rosa, L., ‘Su alcune recenti edizioni di epistolari umanistici: una rassegna e un’apologia’, in scritti in onore di Girolamo Arnaldi offerti dalla Scuola nazionale di studi medioevali, Roma 2001, 261-275.
  • Guillén, C., ‘Notes toward the Study of the Renaissance Letter’, in B. K. Lewalski (ed.), Renaissance Genres. Essays on Theory, History and Interpretation, Cambridge (Mass.)-London 1986, 70-101.
  • Haroche-Bouzinac, G. ‘Quelques métaphores de la lettre dans la théorie épistolaire au XVIIe siècle; flèche, miroir, conversation’, XVIIe Siècle 43, 1991, 243-257.
  • Harth, Helene, ‘Poggio Bracciolini und die Brieftheorie des 15. Jahrhunderts. Zur Gattungsform des humanistischen Briefs’in F. J. Worstbrock (ed.), Der Brief im Zeitalter der Renaissance (Mitteilung IX der Kommission für Humanismusforschung) Weinheim 1983, 81-99.
  • Hess, Ursula, ‘Die Frau als Briefpartnerin von Humanisten, am Beispiel der Caritas Pirckheimer’, in Der Brief im Zeitalter der Renaissance, Mitteilung IX der Kommission für Humanismusforschung, Weinheim 1983.
  • Hirstein, James, ‘La correspondance de Beatus Rhenanus (1485-1547), une nouvelle lettre (et un nouveau livre) et les débuts de l’imprimeur Matthias Schürer à Strassbourg en 1508’, in Antiquité et Humanisme de Tertullien à Beatus Rhenanus. Mélanges offertes à François Heim, Turnhout 2005, 457-493.
  • Hoftijzer, P.G., O.S. Lankhorst and H.J.M. Nellen (eds), Papieren betrekkingen. Zevenentwintig brieven uit de vroegmoderne tijd, Nijmegen 2005.
  • IJsewijn, Jozef, ‘Marcus Antonius Muretus epistolographus’, in: La correspondance d’Érasme et l’épistolographie humaniste. Colloque international tenu en novembre 1983, Travaux de l’Institut Interuniversitaire pour l’étude de la Renaissance et de l’Humanisme 8, Brussels 1985.
  • IJsewijn, Jozef, with Dirk Sacré, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies, part II. Literary, Linguistic, Philological and Editorial Questions. Second, entirely rewritten edition, Leuven 1998, 218-228.
  • Jardine, Lisa, Erasmus, Man of Letters: The Construction of Charisma in Print, Princeton 1993.
  • Jardine, Lisa, ‘Defamiliarising Erasmus: unstitching P.S. Allen’s edition of the letters’, on: www.livesandletters.ac.uk/papers/ERA_2002_03_001.pdf London 2002.
  • Jardine, Lisa, ‘Before Clarissa: Erasmus, “Letters of Obscure Men”, and Epistolary Fictions’, in Toon Van Houdt et al. (eds), Self-presentation and Social Identification. The Rhetoric and Pragmatics of Letter Writing in Early Modern Times, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia xviii, Leuven 2002, 385-403.
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  • Ludwig, Walther, ‘Die Sammlung der “Epistolae ac Epigrammata” des Ulmer Stadtarztes Wolfgang Reichart von 1534 als Dokument humanistischer Selbstdarstelling’, in K. Arnold, S. Schmolinsky, U. M. Zahnd (eds), Studien zu Selbstzeugnissen des späteren Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, Bochum 1999, 117-137.
  • Malherbe, Abraham J. Ancient Epistolary Theorists, Atlanta 1988.
  • Marti, M., ‘L’epistolario come “genere” e un problem editoriale’, Studi e probliemi di critica testuale. Convegno di Studi di Filologia italiana…, Bologna 1961, 203-208.
  • Marx, Barbara, ‘Zur Typologie lateinischer Briefsammlungen in Venedig vom 15. zum 16. Jahrhundert’ in F. J. Worstbrock (ed.), Der Brief im Zeitalter der Renaissance (Mitteilung IX der Kommission für Humanismusforschung) Weinheim 1983,
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  • Mehl, James V., ‘Language, Class, and Mimic Satire in the Characterization of Correspondents in the Epistolae obscurorum virorum’, Sixteenth Century Journal 25 (1994), 289-305.
  • Mesnard, P., ‘Le commerce épistolaire comme l’expression sociale de l’ individualisme humaniste’, Individu et societé à la Renaissance, Colloque International, Avril 1965, Bruxelles 1967, 15-31.
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  • Thraede, K. Grundzüge griechisch-römischer Brieftopik, München, 1970.
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  • Vaillancourt, Luc, La lettre familière au XVIe siècle. Rhétorique humaniste de l’épistolaire, Paris 2003.
  • Violi, P., ‘Letters’, in T. A. van Dijk (ed.), Discourse and Literature, Amsterdam-Philadelphia 1985.
  • Walter, Axel E., Späthumanismus und Konfessionspolitik. Die europäische Gelehrtenrepublik um 1600 im Spiegel der Korrespondenzen Georg Michael Lingelsheims, Tübingen 2004.
  • Waquet, Françoise, ‘Les éditions de correspondances savantes et les idéaux de la République des lettres’, Dix-septième siècle 45 (1993), 99-118.
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See also the Select Republic of Letters Bibliography on the ‘Cultures of Knowledge’ project website.

Tools for Early Modern Letters

Date converter and calculator tools

Historical gazetteers

Abbreviations

A. Cappelli, Lexicon abbreviaturarum. Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane, Milan, 1912: look up Latin and Italian abbreviations and ligatures.

Paleography