Catechismo repubblicano ad uso dei lavoratori e artigiani liberi d'Italia
Authors of source text
Contributions
- Girolamo Rostagni
- translator
- Stamperia italiana e francese a S. Zeno
- publisher
Related resources
- is translation of
- La politique naturelle ou Discours sur les vrais principes du gouvernement has translation
- is related to
- Istruzione di un cittadino ai suoi fratelli meno istruiti
- has paratext
- Catechismo repubblicano ad uso dei lavoratori e artigiani liberi d'Italia paratext
Held by
Notes
Rostagni adapted an earlier work by Cesarotti into the form of a catechism, and added an Appendix with translated extracts from d'Holbach's work. At 73 pages, the so-called "Appendix" is actually longer than the Catechism itself, comprising 47 pages. D'Holbach's text is followed by a 20-pages simplified summary addressed to "I lavoratori ed artigiani men colti e meno riflessivi" (lesser educated and reflective workers and craftsmen).
It is a case of anthology of texts under the cover of another work. See, L. Guerci, "Incredulità e rigenerazione nel Triennio repubblicano" in Rivista storica italiana, 90:1 (1997), p.98.
Israel takes Rostagni's translation as evidence that "D'Holbach's texts proved highly pertinent [to] other leading revolutionary intellectuals of the 1790s". In particular, the Italian democratic republicans "among the most radical political groups in Europe, conscious of being a small, isolated coterie among a populace lacking all notion of what republicanism and democracy were, aspired to transform the situation by re-educating the public [through] revolutionary propaganda texts invoking d'Holbach's revolutionary republican message". Jonathan Israel, The Enlightenment that Failed: Ideas, Revolution, and Democratic Defeat, 1748-1830 (Oxford: OUP, 2019), p. 210.