CANTÙ (Cesare, 1807-1895, Italian Historian and Poet)

Autograph Letter Signed, in Italian with translation, to 'Sig. Giuseppe', recalling another Christmas "that I spent with you and your delightful family, in times so different from these", he longs to know "what particular woes you endured among the common woe, and if a memory of me still remains", he himself was "upside down in the whirlpool ... in exile several times ... most recently ... in Geneva, where six years before I last saw your delightful Nina", he now looks to see "if in some place common sense is being reborn, if some reason is returning to people's minds, some respect to their hearts", 1 side 4to., Milan, 21st December laid down on an album leaf

In 1832, for some 'liberal' comments on history, Cantù was imprisoned by the Austrian authorities of Lombardy for thirteen months. There he contrived to write his novel 'Margherita Pusterla' on rags using a tooth pick and candle carbon. Afterwards the Turin publisher Giuseppe Pomba commissioned him to write a 'Storia universale' in 72 volumes (1836-1842). In 1848 he escaped from Milan to Piedmont, returning, as the present letter tells, when the uprising was over, although the Austrians held Lombardy in an even tighter grip. For a while, 1859-1861 he was a member of parliament under Cavour. After the unification, from 1874, he was director of Archives for Lombardy.

Item Date:  1849

Stock No:  51728      £275

             Add to Wish List     Order/Enquire