Works of Margherita Costa in the Folger Collection

Margherita Costa (c. 1600 – 1664) 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).

The Folger holds a significant collection of her printed works, including

• Istoria del viaggio d'Alemagna del serenissimo Gran Duca di Toscana Ferdinando Secondo, Venice, [1630?]. Folger call number: 223098
• Il violino, Frankfurt: per Daniel Wastch, 1638. Folger call number: 199908. Electronic version through Harvard University Library.
• Per l’incendio di Pitti. Florence: Nella Stamperia nuoua, 1638. Folger call number: 262- 664q
• Flora feconda, poema, Florence: Massi e Landi, 1640. Folger call number: 181821
• La selva di Cipressi, Florence, 1640. Folger call number: 178228. Electronic version through Harvard University Library.
• Li buffoni: Comedia ridicola, Florence: Massi e Landi, 1641. Folger call number: 169572
• La tromba di Parnaso, Paris, 1647. Folger call number: 212505.1
• Festa reale per balletto a cavallo, Paris: Craimoisy, 1647. Folger call number: 212505.2
• La selva di Diana, Paris: Craimoisy, 1647. Folger call number: 212505.3

The following titles would complete our Costa holdings:

• La Santa Cecilia, poema sacro, 1630
• La chitarra, Frankfurt: per Daniel Wastch, 1638
• Lettere amorose, Venice, 1639
• Lo stipo, [The Jewel Box], Venice, 1639
• La flora feconda drama, Florence: Massi e Landi, 1640
• Cecilia martire poema sacro, Rome: Mascardi, 1644. Electronic version through Harvard University Library.
• Gli amori della luna, Venice: Giuliani, 1654

References

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