Cento lettere scritte da [...], il Fermo Academico Innominato, Invaghito, & Olimpico. Tutte in un soggetto; cioè di mandare a donare copie stampate della sua Boscareccia, e della sua tragedia di Semiramis

8vo. (10), 105, (5) pp. A-G8, H4. Bound in nineteenth century yellow paper (on the front cover manuscript ownership entry by the famous collector Leonardo Trissino, dated Firenze 1839).
Basso, pp. 344-345; Edit 16, CNCE 49830; Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Le edizioni del XVI secolo, (I) Edizioni lombarde, (Milano, 1981), p. 133, no. 539.
 
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of this collection of one hundred letters written to accompany copies of his tragedy Semiramis and of his pastoral play Semiramis boschereccia, to be sent to the addressees of the letters. Both plays were printed in Bergamo in 1593. This is confirmed in the dedication to Agostino Gambarelli (Nancy, January 1, 1594). Manfredi says that he obtained from the typographer Comin Ventura one hundred copies of these two works, and that he decided to present them to friends and patrons jointly with a letter. Many secretaries at that time used to send identical letters to different recipients, whereas Manfredi preferred to personalize each accompanying letter. Seen the novelty of the enterprise and the great variety of the letters, he considered them worthy of being published, also in view of obtaining a critic of his plays.
In addition to the one hundred letters, “une dernière lettre est ajoutée à la fin du livre, addressée, come l'épître dédicatroire, au responsable des deux Semiramis, et datée du 1er août 1593: elle accompagne l'expédition des 100 lettres precedents, qu'Agostino Gambarelli devra faire parvenir à leurs destinataires, le plus souvent jointes aux exemplaires qu'il a la charge de distribuer” (J. Basso, Le genre epistolaire en langue italienne (1538-1662). Répertoire chronologique et analytique, Roma & Nancy, 1990, II, p. 345).
In a letter addressed to Veronica Franco (Nancy, July 20, 1593), Manfredi thanks her for the sonnet she had sent to him in praise of the tragedy Semiramis, and announces his gift of the two volumes. He also asks her to keep him informed about the imminent publication of an epic poem by her, which, however, was never published and remained totally unknown. This letter seems to have escaped to the attention of M.F. Rosenthal, who quotes only another letter of Manfredi to Franco dated Nancy, October 30, 1591, which was published in 1606 in Manfredi's Lettere brevissime (cf. The Honest Courtesan. Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth-Century Venice, Chicago & London, 1992, pp. 152 and 318).
All the letters are arranged in alphabetical order by the first name of the addressees, and are dated Nancy, July 1593, except for the last one. The first is misdated 1583. The number in the list below indicates the day of the month of July 1593, in which a letter was written.
 
Cibo Malaspina, Alderano. 26 (p. 1)
Sforza, Alessandro. 5 (p. 2)
Asinari, Alfonso. 21 (p. 2)
Alfonso d'Este. 9 (p. 3)
Ingegneri, Angelo. 29 (p. 4)
Manfredi, Annibale. 9 (p. 5)
Beffa Negrini, Antonio. 19 (p. 6)
Canacci, Antonio. 11 (p. 8)
Dalla Cornia, Ascanio. 16 (p. 9)
Ballentini, Attilio. 25 (p. 10)
Rangoni Guerrieri, Barbara. 8 (p. 11)
Sanseverino, Barbara. 3 (p. 12)
Torelli Benedetti, Barbara. 2 (p. 13)
Guarini, Battista. 23 (p. 14)
Stroppiani Martinengo, Beatrice. 15 (p. 15)
Bulgarini, Belisario. 22 (p. 16)
Baldi, Bernardino. 20 (p. 17)
Camilli, Camillo. 12 (p. 18)
Savoia, Carlo Emanuele Filiberto di. 15 (p. 19)
Gonzaga, Carlo. 8 (p. 20)
Parona, Cesare. 15 (p. 21)
Simonetta, Cesare. 25 (p. 22)
Trotti, Cesare. 9 (p. 23)
Medici, Cristina di Lorena de'. 10 (p. 24)
Buoncompagni, Cristofano. 22 (p. 25)
Bracceschi, Corintia. 2 (p. 26)
Arditio, Curzio. 28 (p. 27)
Lorraine, Dorothée de. 31 (p. 28)
Caetani, Enrico. 14 (p. 29)
Gonzaga, Ercole. 5 (p. 30)
Sfondrati, Ercole. 5 (p. 30)
Visdomini, Eugenio. 4 (p. 31)
Medici, Ferdinando de'. 10 (p. 32)
Gonzaga, Ferrante. 7 (p. 33)
Farnese, Ferrante. 14 (p. 34)
Gallerati, Ferrante. 18 (p. 35)
Gonzaga, Ferrante. 17 (p. 36)
Rossi, Ferrante. 27 (p. 37)
Carriuola, Francesco. 19 (p. 38)
Della Rovere, Francesco Maria Feltre. 25 (p