«The whole book is scandalous». Formiggini and the self-censorship of Brantôme’s «Le dame galanti»

Abstract

In 1937, the publisher Angelo Fortunato Formiggini published in the «Classici del ridere» series in three volumes the late sixteenth-century work Le dame galanti by Pierre de Bourdeille, known as Brantôme. Upon publication, some objected that the work was scandalous and the publisher, after a careful critical rereading, decided with an act of self-censorship to withdraw from the market the few copies put into distribution. He also wanted to integrate at the end of the third volume a Commiato dell’editore which, developing an already known theory of what in a work is ‘pornographic’ and what is ‘porcographic’, set out the reasons for the self-censorship. The work was finally subjected, probably in 1938, to partial seizure by the police authorities, without however disappearing and finally entering, also by the declared will of the publisher, into the interests of bibliophile collectors. Through an analytical reading of the Commiato, the contribution retraces this episode of editorial history, highlighting its key points.