View source for Works of Margherita Costa in the Folger Collection

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margherita_Costa Margherita Costa] (c. 1600 – after 1657) was an Italian Baroque singer, performer, and writer. Virginia Cox has described Costa as the "most distinctly 'seventeenth-century' of seventeenth-century female poets . . . , [whose works] are deserving of a far closer critical scrutiny than they have hitherto received" (213-214). [[Jessica Goethals]] and Sara Diaz have recently contributed to that critical work with their forthcoming edition and translation of Costa's ''The Buffoons'' in [http://crrs.ca/pub/other-voice/ The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe] series.


The Folger holds a significant collection of Costa's printed works, including 

* ''Istoria del viaggio d'Alemagna del serenissimo Gran Duca di Toscana Ferdinando Secondo'', [''The History of Grand Duke of Florence Ferdinando II's Trip to Germany''], Venice, [1630?]. Folger call number: 223- 098q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342796 (Hamnet record)]
* ''Il violino'', [''The Violin''], Frankfurt: per Daniel Wastch, 1638. Folger call number:  199- 908q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342821 (Hamnet record)]. [http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/21015794 Electronic version] of Harvard copy. 
* ''Per l’incendio di Pitti'', [''On the Fire in Palazzo Pitti'']. Florence: Nella Stamperia nuoua, 1638. Folger call number: 262- 664q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=196236 (Hamnet record)]
* ''Flora feconda, poema'', [''Fertile Flora, A Poem''], Florence: Massi e Landi, 1640. Folger call number:  181- 821q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342742 (Hamnet record)]
* ''La selva di Cipressi'', [''The Cypress Forest''], Florence, 1640. Folger call number:  178- 228q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342870 (Hamnet record)]. [http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/46480325 Electronic version] of Harvard copy.
* ''Li buffoni: Comedia ridicola'', [''The Buffoons: A Ridiculous Comedy''], Florence: Massi e Landi, 1641. Folger call number:  169- 572q [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=245176 (Hamnet record)]
* ''La tromba di Parnaso'', [''The Trumpet of Parnassus''], Paris, 1647. Folger call number:  212- 505q item 1 [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342918 (Hamnet record)]
* ''Festa reale per balletto a cavallo'', [''Royal Festivities for an Equestrian Ballet''], Paris: Craimoisy, 1647. Folger call number:  212- 505q item 2 [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342923 (Hamnet record)]
* ''La selva di Diana'', [''The Forest of Diana''], Paris: Craimoisy, 1647. Folger call number:  212- 505q item 3 [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=342919 (Hamnet record)]


The following titles would complete our Costa holdings: 
* ''La chitarra'', [''The Guitar''], Frankfurt: per Daniel Wastch, 1638
* ''Lettere amorose'', [''Love Letters'']  (reprinted with some revisions in 1674), Venice, 1639
* ''Lo stipo'', [''The Jewel Box''], Venice, 1639
* ''La flora feconda drama'', [''Fertile Flora, A Drama''], Florence: Massi e Landi, 1640
* ''Cecilia martire poema sacro'', [''Cecilia the Martyr, A Sacred Poem''], Rome: Mascardi, 1644. [http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/46480324 Electronic version] of Harvard copy.
* ''Gli amori della luna'', [''Lovers of the Moon''], Venice: Giuliani, 1654


Single Poem Editions: 
*''Al serenissimo Ferdinando II, Gran Duca di Toscana, per la festa di San Giovanni Battista'', Venice [np, nd].
*''Al serenissimo principe Gio. Carlo di Toscana, per la carica di generalissimo del mare conferitagli dalla M. Cattolica'', Florence, Massi & Landi [np, nd].
*''Al serenissimo Ferdinando II, Gran Duca di Toscana, nel giorno della sua nascita'', Florence: Landi, 1655. 


==== References====
Cox, Virginia, ''Women's Writing in Italy, 1400–1650'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

Natalia Costa-Zalessow, "Margherita Costa." In ''Seventeenth-Century Italian Poets and Dramatists.'' Dictionary of Literary Biography. Gale, 2008: 113-18.


[[Category: Collection]] 
[[Category: Women writers]]
[[Category: Continental books]] 
[[Category: 17th century]]
[[Category: Research guides]]