MOTHER–DAUGHTER PHILOSOPHY LESSONS
[TACOLI, Carlotta Munarini, Marchioness.]
‘Memorie riguardanti la storia filosofica per istruzione elementare d’una fanciulla compilate da sua madre.’
Modena, 1805.
Manuscript on paper, 8vo, pp. [2 (title, blank)], 36, [111], [1 (blank)], second portion misbound (possibly lacking some text, see below); the first 36 pp. written in a neat hand in brown ink for up to 34 lines to a page, ink drawing of Minerva flanked by an owl, books, and a globe to title, handsomely executed tailpieces in ink, the remainder of the manuscript in another contemporary hand in brown and black ink for up to 23 lines to a page; sporadic light foxing; else very good in twentieth-century half vellum; scattered authorial corrections to second portion, dedication signed ‘C.T.’, pasted-in typescript note to front pastedown.
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‘Memorie riguardanti la storia filosofica per istruzione elementare d’una fanciulla compilate da sua madre.’
An unpublished manuscript introduction to ancient philosophy compiled by Marchioness Carlotta Munarini Tacoli for the education of her precocious eight-year-old-daughter, the future entomologist Adelaide Tacoli Bellincini Bagnesi (see below).
Known for her intellect (and her guitar skills), Munarini was the daughter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Supreme Council of Economy under Ercole III d’Este, and she was a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Modena, Maria Beatrice of Savoy. Her only child, Adelaide, (1797–c. 1879) overlapped with her mother as dama di palazzo from 1817, and would become known at court as an amateur botanist and a keen entomologist: she was an honorary member of Modena’s Società dei Naturalisti e Matematici, and is mentioned in the society’s 1879 transactions as ‘the first in Modena to have had an entomological collection’.
Munarini was also a noted patron and friend of the poet and ballerina Teresa Bandettini, who dedicated a series of fables to Adelaide in the year of this manuscript’s creation: ‘these tales … were mostly composed for you, and they return to you now that they have been published. You are far ahead of your tender age, in keeping with the care your virtuous mother has lavished upon you, taking upon herself entirely your education and instruction’ (trans.).
The present volume consists of a portion of Munarini’s finished product, handsomely produced and illustrated with detailed tailpieces in ink, followed by a partial copy of the existing material and a partial continuation of the manuscript in another (somewhat clumsier) hand, with several corrections by Munarini herself. It is unclear whether the project was never finished, whether it is a draft which she dictated, or whether the volume represents a collaboration with her husband or another party. The ‘limited information’ Adelaide might glean from the manuscript, as Munarini explains in the dedication to her daughter, should not tempt her to flaunt her knowledge or purport to know more than others, ‘which attracts scorn and derision against women. Whatever benefit my humble work may bring you, accept it as the result of a mother’s loving care, intended to shorten the path of your education and to make it more comfortable and rewarding’ (trans.).
The first portion is dedicated to Egyptian, African, Jewish, Phoenician, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Scythian, and Celtic philosophy, and includes information on Hermes Trismegistus, Atlas, the Sadducees and Pharisees, Cadmus, Zoroaster, Buddha, Brahmins, Confucius, and the Druids, inter alia. The majority of the manuscript details Greek philosophers, organised by school.
