{"id":363,"date":"2024-11-24T04:13:48","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T04:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/?p=363"},"modified":"2024-12-20T02:48:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T02:48:34","slug":"the-secrets-of-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/2024\/11\/24\/the-secrets-of-who\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secrets of … Who?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Secrets of . . . <\/em>Who?<\/h2>\n
The different people who played a role in\u00a0The Secrets of Alexis<\/em><\/h6>\n
\"\"

1559 Italian Cover Page; Translation: Of the Secrets of the Reverend Master Alexis of Piemonte; The First Part Divided in Six Books; In Milan<\/p><\/div>\n

Who is the \u201cReverend Master Alexis of Piemont\u201d whose secrets became so popular in the 16th<\/sup> and 17th<\/sup> centuries?<\/p>\n

I am currently researching a 1615 English edition of The Secrets of Alexis<\/em> (original Italian: De’ Secreti del Reverendo Donno Alessio Piemontese<\/em> published 1555). It is a book of remedies and recipies for everything from dyes to face cleansers to medicines. For more on the book itself please see the post before: The Secrets of Alexis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, finding the author of a book should be fairly simple, especially in a book\u00a0where the author\u2019s name is in the title, right? Sadly, no. Most catalouges (including my school\u2019s) accredit Girolamo Ruscelli. This is based on a similar alchemy book he wrote, published a year after his death in 1567 called Secreti Nuovi<\/em> (New Secrets<\/em>). It claims to be The Secrets of Alexis<\/em>\u2019 sequel, calling Alessio Piemontese Ruscelli\u2019s psuedonym (Bela 58). Francesco Sansovino, a friend of Ruscelli\u2019s and who published New Secrets<\/em> on his behalf, attests to Ruscelli\u2019s authorship in his preface to New Secrets<\/em> (Eamon & Phaheau 329).\u00a0Battaglie <\/em>(published 1582) by Hieronimo Mutio also calls Piemontese Ruscelli\u2019s pseudonym in a passing comment (Bela 58-59).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Excerpt from Battaglie (Muzio, 63) English: \u201cPerhaps he made this metamorphosis through the power of his alchemy, whence was born the book published under the name of Don Alexis of Piedmont” (Bela, 59)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

\u201cPortrait\u201d of Ruscelli from Theatrum Virorum Eruditione Clarorum by Paul Freher (1688, p. 1464) (Bela)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ruscelli (1500-1566) was a humanist cartographer, writer, and \u201cpolymath\u201d (\u201cMap\u201d). His works, especially the maps, were impressive, especially so for the time, including commentaries, annotations, and translations as well as collections of maps, though none garnered near the attention The Secrets of Alexis had (Eamon & Phaheau 329). His most notable contribution to cartography was the use of copper plates in place of wood, allowing for more detailed maps (\u201cMap\u201d). In the 1540s, living in Naples, Ruscelli was a member of the Accademia Segreta (Eamon & Phaheau 330). This society studied alchemy, testing and experimenting with the remedies that comprise The Secrets<\/em> (333).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zbigniew Bela, however, wrote a passionate piece arguing that The Secrets<\/em> was actually written by a man named Alessio Piemontese (Bela 63). Alas, Piemontese is an even more obscure\u00a0figure than Ruscelli, making any real argument for his\u00a0authorship immensely difficult. Piemontese (est. 147o-1550) was a medic and alchemist, and in 1557, published a book of secrets in Italian (Ibid.). On page 22 verso of The Secrets<\/em>, a recipe says that the water was given to him (the author) by Girolamo Ruscelli in Bologna in 1543. This suggests that Ruscelli is either sneakily inserting his name into the\u00a0book by pretending to meet himself, or in fact, Piemontese was the author and Ruscelli assisted in some way or inspired some of the recipes (Bela 60).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Same anecdote about Ruscelli in the 1558 Italian edition<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h6>\n

\"\"In the \u201cTo the Reader,\u201d Alessio1<\/sup> talks about his knowledge of many languages and his \u201csingular pleasure in philosophy, and in the secrets of Nature,\u201d adding that he travelled the world for \u201cseven and twenty years.\u201d He gathered his \u201csecrets\u201d from other learned men, noble men, \u201cpoor women, artifacers, pesants, and all sorts of men.\u201d When Alessio was \u201cfourscore and two year and seven months\u201d he met a sick man, suffering from an inability to urinate. Out of his \u201cvain glory\u201d and fears that the physician might use his \u201csecrets\u201d for selfish purposes, Alessio refused share the \u201csecrets,\u201d and the physician, fearing others knowing he sought outside help, refused to allow Alessio to administer the medicine himself. When the man passed, Alessio was overcome with guilt, saying that he \u201cdesired to die\u201d because he was a \u201cmurderer\u201d for withholding his \u201csecrets.\u201d To help alleviate some of this guilt, he was \u201cdetermined to communicate\u201d his recipes to the public, hence this book. He assures his readers of his trustworthiness by way of his age, this story, and the promise that the recipes are \u201ctrue and experimented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Translators:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I couldn\u2019t find much on Richard Androse, one of The Secrets<\/em>\u2019 translators, but I had more luck with the other, William Ward [Warde]. Ward (1534-1609) was a physician and translator and studied at Eton College and King\u2019s College, Cambridge (Bayne & Wallis). He served as physician for both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I (Ibid.). He also translated several works from French to English, including The Secrets<\/em> (Ibid.). It is likely from his expertise as a physician that he added recipes to the English edition as he translated it (Martins).<\/p>\n

The Secrets of Alexis<\/em> was printed in almost every western European language and in more than ninety editions by the end of the seventeenth century (Eamon & Phaheau 330). I found a number of digitized versions of the book (listed below).<\/p>\n

\"\"

1562 Edit.’s end of Epistle<\/p><\/div>\n

The \u201cTo the Reader\u201d appears to be in all the editions, including the Italian. The Epistle and dedication seem unique to English editions, likely written by Ward as the 1562 edition\u2019s ends \u201cYour humble servant, William Warde,\u201d though the others are nameless. Some of these editions, for example the 1595 and 1615 editions, were the same material just varying aesthetically, though others have sections numbered differently, more or fewer sections, etc. The 1580 English and 1558 Italian both have a table of contents at the end, the 1562 English and 1559 Italian have a table of contents in the middle of the work. Most of the English editions (1562, 1580, 1595, 1615, and so on) were labeled \u201cnewly corrected and amended\u2026\u201d editions, used the same translations, and featured the same or very similar marginal notes. It’s hard to say just how much Ward added to the English, though, without knowing more than rudimentary Italian or having a first edition.<\/i><\/p>\n

Printer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"William Stansby (1572 – 1638) printed this edition in London at Cross Keys printing house. He apprenticed there under John Windet from 1589 to 1597 and then continued working with him, becoming co-partner in 1609, just before Windet\u2019s death in 1610 (Bland). Windet focused on long print runs of small godly books, but after his passing, Stansby worked on smaller print runs of larger works and introduced more variety to the material than Windet had (Ibid.). During this period, he printed works by \u201cJohn Donne,\u00a0Sir Walter Ralegh,\u00a0William Camden,\u00a0John Selden,\u00a0Michael Drayton,\u00a0[and] Sir Francis Bacon,\u201d (Ibid.) and, most famously, Ben Jonson\u2019s first folio in 1616 (Wienberg). Stansby frequently printed banned or frowned-upon materials and was even arrested in the early 1620s for a pamphlet on Ferdinand II succeeding to the crown of Bohemia (Bland). Despite the change in focus, Stansby continued to use Windet\u2019s printer\u2019s device as seen on the section title pages of The Secrets<\/em> (Windet). Around 1624, Stansby calmed down substantially, printing longer runs of psalms once more (Bland).<\/p>\n

\"\"

1595 Edit. page 121<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

1615 Edit. page 121<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

1562 Edit.’s equivalent of page 121<\/p><\/div>\n

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Works Cited<\/p>\n

Bayne, Ronald, and Patrick Wallis. “Ward [Warde], William (1534\u20131609), physician and translator.”\u00a0Oxford Dictionary of National Biography<\/em>.January\u00a003,\u00a02008, Oxford University Press. https:\/\/www.oxforddnb.com\/view\/10.1093\/ref:odnb\/9780198614128.001.0001\/odnb-9780198614128-e-28709<\/a>. Accessed 16 October 2024.<\/p>\n

Bela, Zbigniew. \u201cThe Authorship of The Secrets of Alexis of Piemont\u201d Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki<\/em>, vol. 61, no. 1, 2016, pp. 52-73. ResearchGate<\/em>, https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/11726225\/Who_really_is_an_author_of_Alexis_of_Piemont’s_secrets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bland, Mark. “Stansby, William (bap. 1572, d. 1638), printer and bookseller.”\u00a0Oxford Dictionary of National Biography<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0September\u00a023,\u00a02004. Oxford University Press. https:\/\/www.oxforddnb.com\/view\/10.1093\/ref:odnb\/9780198614128.001.0001\/odnb-9780198614128-e-64163<\/a>. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024<\/p>\n

Eamon, William and Fran\u00e7oise Paheau. \u201cThe Accademia Segreta of Girolamo Ruscelli: A Sixteenth-Century Italian Scientific Society.\u201d Isis<\/em>, vol. 75, no. 2, 1984, pp. 327\u201342. JSTOR<\/em>, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/231830<\/a>. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cMap Maker Biography: Girolamo Ruscelli (1500 – 1566).\u201d New World Cartographic<\/em>, 6 Dec. 2021, https:\/\/nwcartographic.com\/blogs\/essays-articles\/map-maker-biography-girolamo-ruscelli-1500-1566<\/a>. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024<\/p>\n

Martins, Julia. \u201cThe Secrets.\u201d Cems KCL Blog<\/em>, 14 July 2023. https:\/\/kingsearlymodern.co.uk\/ key-texts\/the-secrets<\/a>. Accessed 21 November 2024<\/p>\n

Muzio, Girolamo [Hieronimo Mutio]. Battaglie.<\/em> Pietro Dusinelli, 1582, pp. 63, Internet Archive<\/em>, https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/bub_gb_NQTWowCoq0sC\/page\/n153\/mode \/2up?view=theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ruscelli, Girolamo. The Secrets of Alexis [Pseud.]: Containing Many Excellent Remedies against Divers Diseases, Wounds, and Other Accidents. With the Manner to Make Distillations, Parfumes … and Meltings …<\/em> Newly corrected and Amended, and also Somewhat more enlarged in certaine places, Which wanted in the former editions., Printed by W. Stansby for R. Meighen, 1615. 2<\/sup><\/p>\n

Wienberg, Abbie and Elizabeth DeBold. \u201cThe Other First Folio.\u201d Folger Shakespeare Library<\/em>, July 2019, https:\/\/www.folger.edu\/blogs\/collation\/the-other-first-folio\/<\/a>. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024<\/p>\n

Windet, Micheal. \u201cAdventures in Family Research.\u201d The Stationers\u2019 Company<\/em>, 16 March 2021, https:\/\/www.stationers.org\/news\/archive-news\/adventures-in-family-research<\/a>. Accessed 12 October 2024<\/p>\n

Work Consulted<\/p>\n

\u201cArchaeologica Medica: XXXII.-“The Secrets of Alexis.”.\u201d\u00a0British Medical Journal,<\/em>\u00a0vol. 2, 10 July 1897, 90-1.<\/p>\n

De La Cruz-Cabanillas, Isabel. \u201cThe Secrets of Alexis<\/em>\u00a0in Glasgow University Library MS Ferguson 7.\u201d\u00a0SEDERI: Yearbook of the Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies<\/em>, vol. 30, Jan. 2020, pp. 29\u201346.\u00a0EBSCOhost<\/em>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34136\/sederi.2020.2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Digitized Volumes and Collections:<\/p>\n

Library of Congress Collection: https:\/\/lccn.loc.gov\/49043523<\/a><\/p>\n

Internet Archive: 1559 Italian Edition https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/BIUSante_pharma_res018694\/mode\/2up<\/a><\/p>\n

Google Books: 1558 Italian Edition https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/De_Secreti_del_reverendo_donno_Alessio_P\/wL6o6xxP7TEC?hl=en&gbpv=0<\/a><\/p>\n

Early English Books via ProQuest:<\/p>\n

1595 Edition https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/docview\/2240876695?accountid=10506&sourcetype=Books&imgSeq=1<\/a><\/p>\n

1580 Edition<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/docview\/2240906757?pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Books&imgSeq=1\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I am using the name \u201cAlessio\u201d to refer to the author, not to make any statements as to who the author really is, just to use the name the \u201cTo the Reader\u201d is signed, specifically the Italian form of the name because the \u201cTo the Reader\u201d was the only of the front matter to exist in the original Italian, meaning these were the original author\u2019s words, not a translator or English editor\u2019s addition.<\/li>\n
  2. This is the citation for the edition of The Secrets<\/em> I worked with based on the Dickinson College Library Catalogue, which, like many catalogues, accredits the book to Ruscelli.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Secrets of . . . Who? The different people who played a role in\u00a0The Secrets of Alexis Who is the \u201cReverend Master Alexis of Piemont\u201d whose secrets became so popular in the 16th and 17th centuries? I am currently researching a 1615 English edition of The Secrets of Alexis (original Italian: De’ Secreti del […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5522,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-origins","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/historyofthebook2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}