‘Come parto imperfetto’: Paratexts and organization in a sixteenth‐century book of secrets

Abstract

This essay addresses the Secreti diversi etmiracolosi, one of the many books of secrets (collections of medical and craft recipes) crowding the sixteenth‐century Venetian book market. First published in 1563 and spuriously ascribed to the physician Gabriele Falloppia, this book underwent significant structural changes already in occasion of its second edition (1565). The editors of the first and second editions, Giovanni Antonio Di Maria and Borgaruccio Borgarucci, discussed their respective choices regarding the arrangement of the collection in their prefatory letters. This contribution examines the prefatory and organizational paratexts of both editions, which reveal a tension between the readability of the book and there liability of its contents. It will be argued that the different paratextual strategies sued by Di Maria and Borgarucci had profound impact on the contours of ‘Falloppia'’s literary identity, on the functions envisioned for the collection, and on the epistemological value of the recipes therein. The editorial history of the Secreti diversi also prompts broader considerations on the success of books of secrets, showing how this was not only a matter of content but also, and often more importantly, how that content was presented to the readers.