ceiling & wall mounts
buch 13 24
in 1350 the italian humanist and poet francesco petrarca decided to form a collection of all his correspondence . the letters deal with multifarious topics switch between narration and instruction the personal and the general and are addressed to various of his learned friends and contemporaries . theyconstitute a treasure trove for the history of ideas . this is the first complete german language edition of the famous 24 books of the epistolae familiares ; they have been translated from the latin by prof. berthe widmer an acknowledged authority on petrarch . the translation is accompanied by a detailed commentary on the texts giving factual information on aspects which are largely unknown today for example on persons authors and places mentioned . access to the letters is further facilitated by an annotated index of the addressees and an overview of the contents of the letters . a detailed introduction locates the letters in the context of petrarchs complete works and his age . the letters represent a most important document in the history of literature and are of inestimable value for all literary scholars and historiansas well as forhistorians of philosophy .