In this article, the fifth in a series on booklets about the rules of minchiate (the others are immediately below this one on the sidebar to this blog), Franco turns his attention to at last to Florence, in "Minchiate, le Regole Generali di Firenze," at https://www.naibi.net/A/85.pdf. It originally appeared in The Playing Card
49, no. 1 (July-Sept. 2020), pp. 8-13. Comments in square
brackets are mine, for explanatory purposes to non-Italian readers, done
after consulting with Franco. The numbers by themselves in the left
margin are the journal's page numbers, and the footnotes are to be found
at the bottom of these pages. There is a short summary, in English in the original, before the essay itself.
Minchiate: The Regole Generali in Florence
Franco Pratesi
English Summary
Regole Generali delle Minchiate - the Italian book with this title is a small handbook published with the rules and the laws of the Minchiate game. It had several editions in Rome and Macerata after the first of 1728. Then a booklet with the same title was printed in Florence in no less than five editions (1781, 1790, 1807, 1820, 1852); in contrast to the Roman editions, the material in the Florentine is carefully organized into individual chapters, devoted to the various aspects of the game and the corresponding laws. Here the five Florentine editions of the book have been studied and compared. The main difference observed was the introduction, at the end of the 1820 edition, of an additional section devoted to the non-partnership version of the game. Finally, the locations of the few places where a copy of each edition is still available for consultation are provided.
Introduction
A book of general rules on the game of minchiate was published in Florence and reprinted several times. All these editions were listed in the well-known Bibliografia of Alfredo Lensi [note 1]; there are five editions in total, which came out from 1781 to 1852. The essential elements of these editions will be provided and the changes made to the text with the succession of editions will be highlighted.
A book with a very similar title had already been published in Rome and Macerata in several editions starting from 1728. [note 2] A different booklet of rules was printed in Dresden in German in 1798 and then in an Italian version in 1830;[note 3] it is considered more complete and detailed than the other manuals, but it is unlikely that it found a notable diffusion outside the capital of Saxony.
Furthermore, a copy of the Capitolo [delle Minchiate: Chapter of Minchiate] was perhaps reprinted in Florence without typographical data, in which the Ferrara marquis abbot Pio Enea degli Obizzi had set out the rules of minchiate in poetic form. Of the same work, the editions of 1777 and 1827 [note 4] certainly appeared in Florence (after the Livorno edition of 1752). However, in Florence the book under consideration, with the Regole Generali [General Rules], represented the official manual for the game for many years, and a new edition was published as soon as the previous one was out of print.
The Florentine editions
Evidently, the good intentions of those who had the Capitolo reprinted in 1777 were not enough to satisfy the requests of the Florentines, so much so that only a few years later another edition was resorted to, of a different type. The dissimilarity of this first Florentine edition of the Regole was not only evident, compared to the Capitolo, but could also be noted compared to the Roman edition, which had also been taken as a model (at least for the title).
The Regole Generali, printed in Rome already in 1728, reached the press in Florence with a notable delay, with the first Florentine edition dated 1781; but after that, this booklet even became part of an entire series of similar manuals on one or another of the various conversation games - such as chess or tressette quadrigliati - which were offered for sale to the same Florentine public (typically at the Scalere di Badia) and even advertised in the Gazzetta Toscana.
___________
1. A. Lensi, Bibliografia italiana di giuochi di carte. Florence 1892 (reprint Ravenna 1985).
2. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 48 No. 3 (2020) pp. 96-102.
3. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 47 No. 3 (2019) pp. 176-179.
4. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 47 No. 2 (2018) pp. 103-113. At the time, only one copy of the 1777 edition had been found, at Harvard University, USA, but another is present in the University Library of Genoa (Misc.B.5.14).
9
Already with the second Roman edition of 1742, it was deemed necessary to add a more concise and, above all, schematically organized appendix to the book, better suited for rapid consultation on possible points of interest. In fact, in the original text, it was not easy to orient oneself among the erudite and verbose discussions that moved from one topic to the next without a convenient demarcation. In the Roman editions, the presence of a scholar-author was evident who provided suggestions in careful prose (even if not actually in verse, like the author of the Capitolo) and usually provided long justifications; in Florence, a book was immediately printed that looked directly at the practice of the game, without any further literary frills.
The Florentine editions present a text structured schematically with distinct chapters and subchapters for the various topics, with the respective titles which are referred to in a table of contents at the end, so as to be immediately consultable on the respective pages. The following table shows the tables of contents of the various editions; as you can see, there are only slight variations in the latest editions for the additional inclusion of a chapter on minchiate each for oneself at the end of the volume. The same page numbers in the five columns are often preserved almost unchanged, more or less.
10
One gets the impression that the Roman edition of the Regole was the original work of an author, even of a good literary level. If the Florentine editions derived from that one, they appear to be the result of a profound editorial revision; as if the publisher had assigned an employee to renovate the entire text in order to make it easier to read and learn. Or else these Florentine Regole Generali were born completely independently of the Roman ones, by an author who did not worry about stylistic and literary aspects but limited himself to compiling a treatise in the simplest and most schematic way possible. In any case, sometimes finding the name of Luigi Bernardi in brackets in the catalogs still as the author of these Florentine editions seems unjustified: Lensi himself only included him in the Roman editions.
These subsequent Florentine editions are never reprints of the same edition, as we have become accustomed to recently. The dimensions of the characters and the pages of the book themselves change, albeit slightly, and are always kept at pocket size. The small size was not just a device to save paper, but the intention was clearly to provide the reader with a truly pocket-sized work, which could be usefully kept in a pocket, even at the gaming table. If necessary, the booklet could be extracted and read both to clarify for the owner, especially if a beginner, any doubts about technical terms or game rules, and also for experienced players who had to deal with different local customs among which they had to identify the correct one, at least according to the book.
Evidently, a new edition was printed as soon as the previous one was sold out, without worrying about substantially modifying the available text. We can examine the various editions in sequence, starting from the first in 1781.
Florence 1781
__________
5. Gazzetta Toscana N. 3 1781 p. 12 (January).
6. Gazzetta Universale Num. 104 Saturday 39 December 1781. p. 836 (last lines of the last page of the year).
11
it was traditional to use the attribute of “new” [nuovo] for an edition that was simply recently printed, without a similar one previously existing [di nuovo = in English, "anew”]. The question is decisive for attributing complete originality (separate title) to the Florentine editions. From the halving of the selling price after a year, one gets the impression that this new edition did not meet with the popularity that the compilers and printers had hoped for.
Minchiate: The Regole Generali in Florence
Franco Pratesi
English Summary
Regole Generali delle Minchiate - the Italian book with this title is a small handbook published with the rules and the laws of the Minchiate game. It had several editions in Rome and Macerata after the first of 1728. Then a booklet with the same title was printed in Florence in no less than five editions (1781, 1790, 1807, 1820, 1852); in contrast to the Roman editions, the material in the Florentine is carefully organized into individual chapters, devoted to the various aspects of the game and the corresponding laws. Here the five Florentine editions of the book have been studied and compared. The main difference observed was the introduction, at the end of the 1820 edition, of an additional section devoted to the non-partnership version of the game. Finally, the locations of the few places where a copy of each edition is still available for consultation are provided.
Introduction
A book of general rules on the game of minchiate was published in Florence and reprinted several times. All these editions were listed in the well-known Bibliografia of Alfredo Lensi [note 1]; there are five editions in total, which came out from 1781 to 1852. The essential elements of these editions will be provided and the changes made to the text with the succession of editions will be highlighted.
A book with a very similar title had already been published in Rome and Macerata in several editions starting from 1728. [note 2] A different booklet of rules was printed in Dresden in German in 1798 and then in an Italian version in 1830;[note 3] it is considered more complete and detailed than the other manuals, but it is unlikely that it found a notable diffusion outside the capital of Saxony.
Furthermore, a copy of the Capitolo [delle Minchiate: Chapter of Minchiate] was perhaps reprinted in Florence without typographical data, in which the Ferrara marquis abbot Pio Enea degli Obizzi had set out the rules of minchiate in poetic form. Of the same work, the editions of 1777 and 1827 [note 4] certainly appeared in Florence (after the Livorno edition of 1752). However, in Florence the book under consideration, with the Regole Generali [General Rules], represented the official manual for the game for many years, and a new edition was published as soon as the previous one was out of print.
The Florentine editions
Evidently, the good intentions of those who had the Capitolo reprinted in 1777 were not enough to satisfy the requests of the Florentines, so much so that only a few years later another edition was resorted to, of a different type. The dissimilarity of this first Florentine edition of the Regole was not only evident, compared to the Capitolo, but could also be noted compared to the Roman edition, which had also been taken as a model (at least for the title).
The Regole Generali, printed in Rome already in 1728, reached the press in Florence with a notable delay, with the first Florentine edition dated 1781; but after that, this booklet even became part of an entire series of similar manuals on one or another of the various conversation games - such as chess or tressette quadrigliati - which were offered for sale to the same Florentine public (typically at the Scalere di Badia) and even advertised in the Gazzetta Toscana.
___________
1. A. Lensi, Bibliografia italiana di giuochi di carte. Florence 1892 (reprint Ravenna 1985).
2. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 48 No. 3 (2020) pp. 96-102.
3. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 47 No. 3 (2019) pp. 176-179.
4. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, Vol. 47 No. 2 (2018) pp. 103-113. At the time, only one copy of the 1777 edition had been found, at Harvard University, USA, but another is present in the University Library of Genoa (Misc.B.5.14).
9
Already with the second Roman edition of 1742, it was deemed necessary to add a more concise and, above all, schematically organized appendix to the book, better suited for rapid consultation on possible points of interest. In fact, in the original text, it was not easy to orient oneself among the erudite and verbose discussions that moved from one topic to the next without a convenient demarcation. In the Roman editions, the presence of a scholar-author was evident who provided suggestions in careful prose (even if not actually in verse, like the author of the Capitolo) and usually provided long justifications; in Florence, a book was immediately printed that looked directly at the practice of the game, without any further literary frills.
The Florentine editions present a text structured schematically with distinct chapters and subchapters for the various topics, with the respective titles which are referred to in a table of contents at the end, so as to be immediately consultable on the respective pages. The following table shows the tables of contents of the various editions; as you can see, there are only slight variations in the latest editions for the additional inclusion of a chapter on minchiate each for oneself at the end of the volume. The same page numbers in the five columns are often preserved almost unchanged, more or less.
10
One gets the impression that the Roman edition of the Regole was the original work of an author, even of a good literary level. If the Florentine editions derived from that one, they appear to be the result of a profound editorial revision; as if the publisher had assigned an employee to renovate the entire text in order to make it easier to read and learn. Or else these Florentine Regole Generali were born completely independently of the Roman ones, by an author who did not worry about stylistic and literary aspects but limited himself to compiling a treatise in the simplest and most schematic way possible. In any case, sometimes finding the name of Luigi Bernardi in brackets in the catalogs still as the author of these Florentine editions seems unjustified: Lensi himself only included him in the Roman editions.
These subsequent Florentine editions are never reprints of the same edition, as we have become accustomed to recently. The dimensions of the characters and the pages of the book themselves change, albeit slightly, and are always kept at pocket size. The small size was not just a device to save paper, but the intention was clearly to provide the reader with a truly pocket-sized work, which could be usefully kept in a pocket, even at the gaming table. If necessary, the booklet could be extracted and read both to clarify for the owner, especially if a beginner, any doubts about technical terms or game rules, and also for experienced players who had to deal with different local customs among which they had to identify the correct one, at least according to the book.
Evidently, a new edition was printed as soon as the previous one was sold out, without worrying about substantially modifying the available text. We can examine the various editions in sequence, starting from the first in 1781.
Florence 1781
This publication was marked in the Florentine magazines with a specific AVVISO [NOTICE] with all the details.Regole generali del giuoco delle minchiate con diverse istruzioni brevi, e facili per bene imparare a giuocarlo. [General rules of the game of minchiate with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well.] Florence, at the expense of Vincenzio Landi, typ. Vanni and Tofani, 1781, in -16, 70 pp. (Lensi 1892: n 142 p. 37).
“Newly” [nuovamente] is an adverb that doesn't help us. It could in fact read as the re-edition of the book which with the same title had been printed in Rome in several editions and in principle could have been found for sale at some Florentine bookseller. However,Since in the present season, private conversations in private homes will be more frequent, where the most delightful entertainment is derived from the Game of Minchiate, a booklet has been published which deals with the aforementioned Game, where the origin and quality of the same is identified, prescribing General Rules for playing it well, and those penalties that are too necessary to be imposed on those who transgress the laws of this game are reasonably established. This booklet is for sale for the price of one paolo at Vincenzio Landi Bookseller.[note 5]
It has been newly printed with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well, and can be sold at the price of half a paolo by Libraj Luigi Carlieri and Vincenzio Pagani [1 Paolo = 13 soldi 4 denari]. [note 6]
__________
5. Gazzetta Toscana N. 3 1781 p. 12 (January).
6. Gazzetta Universale Num. 104 Saturday 39 December 1781. p. 836 (last lines of the last page of the year).
11
it was traditional to use the attribute of “new” [nuovo] for an edition that was simply recently printed, without a similar one previously existing [di nuovo = in English, "anew”]. The question is decisive for attributing complete originality (separate title) to the Florentine editions. From the halving of the selling price after a year, one gets the impression that this new edition did not meet with the popularity that the compilers and printers had hoped for.
Florence 1790
Florence 1807
12
At the time of this study (January 2019), this edition can be considered the most accessible for consultation. First of all, the National Central Library of Florence has made available a digital copy of the specimen (Misc. 393.1) preserved there. Furthermore, there is an Indian publishing house that offers new reprints of this same work, with even the possibility of choosing the binding among several models of increasing value. The only point we can make about this reprint is that the original paperback format was subjected (perhaps with the intention of contributing to the value of the re-edition) to an increase in size of approximately 40%, thus making the volume different not only from the original but also from all other known Florentine editions.Regole generali del giuoco delle minchiate: con diverse istruzioni brevi, e facili per bene imparare a giuocarlo ed in fine aggiuntavi un ottava sopra la maniera di alzar le carte. [General rules of the game of minchiate: with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well and finally adding an octave [eight-lined stanza] on the manner of cutting the cards.] In Florence 1790. May be found for sale at Vincenzio Landi Bookseller opposite the Tax Office. In -16 (14.5x8 cm), pp. 64. (Lensi 1892, n. 143, p. 37-38.)
Florence 1807
On the actual title page, there are no typographical details, but underneath IN FIRENZE 1807 we read: “It is sold by the Dispenser of the Gazzetta Universale at the Scalere di Badia.” In short, this booklet was also part of the series of editions on the various games that were continuously offered to buyers in one or more of the bookshops and stationery shops that for centuries occupied that stretch of road in front of the Palazzo del Bargello and in Via della Condotta.Regole generali del giuoco delle minchiate con diverse istruzioni brevi, e facili per bene imparare a giuocarlo. [General rules of the game of minchiate with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well.] Florence, s.n.t. [senza note tipografiche = without typographical notes], 1807, in -16, pp. 64. (Lensi 1892, n. 144, p. 38).
12
In the last analysis, except for small variations in the format and overall number of pages, there is only one noteworthy change in all the Florentine editions: starting from this 1820 edition, there is a sort of appendix to the usual text, dedicated to the game of each for oneself. From a technical and also historical point of view, this is a significant change. In fact, we know that this type of game was the most common in the seventeenth century, before the fashion of playing in pairs took over in the following century. When the first guides for the game of minchiate appeared in the eighteenth century, the approach was mainly to illustrate the game in pairs, with the common comment that other types of games did not deserve as much attention. It is therefore interesting that in 1820, it was considered necessary to complete the presentation of the game with the variant that had been previously preferred and which perhaps had never lost the players' favor.Regole generali del giuoco delle minchiate con diverse istruzioni brevi, e facili per bene imparare a giuocarlo. Seconda edizione con l’aggiunta di un trattato sulle minchiate a ognun per sé. [General rules of the game of minchiate with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well.] Second edition with the addition of a treatise on minchiate each for oneself. Florence, St. del Giglio, 1820, in -8 (17.5x11.5 cm). pp. 76. (Lensi 1892, n. 145 p. 38).
It can be ventured that in a reception room with gentlemen and ladies at the gaming tables, it is easy to imagine the conversational advantages of playing in pairs; in taverns or in environments of inveterate gamblers, the game of each player for oneself better allowed the emergence of a deeper knowledge of the gaming technique: in the long run, a more skilled player could count on a greater probability of success.
This 1820 edition had a greater circulation than the others, and therefore it can be deduced that it was also printed in a greater number of copies than usual. Confirming this hypothesis are the relatively numerous copies still preserved in various libraries in different countries and, above all, the fact that this edition remained present for a long time in the series of booklets of game rules offered to the Florentine public, typically at the Scalere di Badia.
For example, a list of all these books is found for 1836 [note 7], and the following for 1840.
We note that our 1820 booklet continued to be part of the series available on the various games twenty years after it was printed, and only a dozen years later, a further reprint became necessary, the last of the series. Also noteworthy is the price, which is higher than other books on games, typically double, given that 10 soldi corresponded to half a lira (while fractions of a soldo were expressed in twelfths or denarii).Interesting Notice [note 8]
Since the season of vigils has now begun, the public is reminded that in the Dispensation of this Gazette, the following booklets can be found which teach the games most commonly used in civil conversations.
Rules of Games Played with Billiards, Soldi 16.8.
Rules of the Game of Chess by Sig. Koyle, Soldi 10.
Rules of the Game of Whist by the same Koyle, Soldi 10.
Rules of the Game of Minchiate, with the addition of the game of Minchiate each for oneself, Lire 1.
Treatise of the Game of Calabresella and of Ombre Calabresellate, Soldi 13.4.
Rules of the Game of Ombre, Soldi 6.8.
Treatise on the Game of Ecarté, Soldi 10.
The Honest Pastime, or Games and Jokes to divert Conversations..., Soldi 13.4.
The Game of Tibidò, Lire 2.
The Game of Tombola with double-numbered balls, Bag and Cards, Paoli 5.1/2.
The same with single numbering, Paoli 4.
________________
7. Gazzetta di Firenze, Num. 136, 1836 (Saturday, 12 November) p. 4.
8. Gazzetta di Firenze, Num. 140, 1840 (Saturday, 21 November) p. 4.
13
Florence 1852
There are several errors in the numbering inserted next to the titles of these editions; even the last Florentine edition, that of 1852, bears the words “Third edition” on the title page, while it would be the fifth of the Florentine ones.Regole generali del giuoco delle minchiate con diverse istruzioni brevi, e facili per bene imparare a giuocarlo. Terza edizione: con l’aggiunta di un trattato sulle minchiate a ognun per sé. Terza edizione: con l’aggiunta di un trattato sulle minchiate a ognun per sé. [General rules of the game of minchiate with several short and easy instructions to learn how to play it well. Third edition: with the addition of a treatise on minchiate each for oneself.] Florence, typ. Above the Grain loggias [roofed structures open on one side], 1852, in -16 (15x11 cm). pp. 60. (Lensi 1892: n 146, p. 38).
As can be seen from the table, this latest edition differs slightly from all the others due to a lower number of pages. One might think it used a slightly larger format for the pages; on the contrary, the format of this edition is even smaller than the previous ones, but it is the significantly smaller characters used that make it possible to insert the same text in a smaller number of pages.
Preserved copies and their location
For the specimens still present in the major Italian libraries, there is the inconvenience that some of the old card catalogs have not yet been digitized, which is why we find a smaller number of copies in the online catalogs than the actual number. However, the number of copies found was lower than expected (already scaled down taking into account circulation, format and subject), especially considering that the Florentine public libraries are the richest in Italy in ancient collections and local editions.
Florence 1781
Biblioteca statale di Cremona - Cremona (OPAC)
Biblioteca Roncioniana - Prato (OPAC)
Biblioteca comunale Augusta - Perugia (OPAC)
Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria - Turin (OPAC)
Bodleian Library - Oxford, UK (Copac)
Biblioteca degli Intronati - Siena (Misc. Borghesi H.IX.1)
Harvard University - Cambridge, MA, USA (WorldCat)
Florence 1790
Biblioteca nazionale centrale - Florence (OPAC) and digitized copy
Yale University Library - New Haven, CT, USA (WorldCat)
Florence 1807
Biblioteca comunale dell' Archiginnasio - Bologna (OPAC)
Van Pelt Library - Philadelphia, PA, USA (WorldCat)
Biblioteca degli Intronati - Siena (Misc. Borghesi H.IX.2)
Florence 1820
Civica raccolta delle stampe Achille Bertarelli - Milan (OPAC)
Biblioteca Casanatese - Rome (https://cataloghistorici.bdi.sbn.it/)
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - Florence (https://cataloghistorici.bdi.sbn.it/)
Biblioteca delle Oblate - Florence (Misc. 129 -03)
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - Florence ((14).X.7.2.40)
Biblioteca degli Intronati - Siena (A.XV.E.39)
Biblioteca degli Intronati - Siena (B.XXX.G.13)
University of London, Warburg Institute - London, UK (WorldCat)
Harvard College Library - Cambridge, MA, USA (WorldCat)
Harvard University - Cambridge, MA, USA (WorldCat)
Yale University Library - New Haven, CT, USA (WorldCat)
Newberry Library - Chicago, IL, USA (WorldCat)
Baylor University Libraries - Waco, TX, USA (WorldCat)
Bodleian Library - Oxford, UK (Copac)
Aberdeen University - Aberdeen, UK (Copac)
Florence 1852
An example is present in the collection of the Associazione Le Tarot, in Faenza. [note 9] No other indications on the presence of examples of this edition were found in any of the catalogs consulted.
_______________
9. http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/car ... co.doc.pdf
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