Saggi Inediti di Lingue Americane. Appunti Bibliografici

Pisa: Dallas Tipografia Nistri, 1868. 91,[1]pp. Original printed wrappers. Minor chipping and partial separations along spine, light edge wear, ownership signature on front wrapper and ink inscription on front flyleaf. Very good. A scarce Italian work on indigenous American linguistics, one of only seventy copies printed "e non sono in commercio." According to Pilling, the work was taken "From a manuscript of the Cardinal Mezzofanti, with an appendix.... The Notes, without the appendix, were first printed in the Annali della Universita di Pisa, 1868, vol. 10. Mainly devoted to South American languages, but contains a brief discussion and a few examples of Algonkin and Iroquois." The latter appear on pages 14-22 beginning with a passage headed, "Grammaire algonquine" and concluding with a discussion of Cardinal Mezzofanti's experiences learning indigenous California dialects from a manuscript brought to Italy by Catholic missionaries. Mezzofanti was a hyperpolyglot who reportedly knew, or was at least conversant in, at least thirty-eight and perhaps as many as fifty languages. OCLC records just six institutional copies of the present work in the United States, at the Bancroft, Trinity College, Gordon College, the Newberry, Harvard, and Penn. The title translates roughly to Unpublished Essays on American Language, with Bibliographical Notes.

Pilau 331258. Pilling 3832. Leclerc 2091. Streit II:23.