Meli, Giovanni; Barker, W. W., trans.

[Sumptuously Bound English Manuscript Translation of Sicilian Poetry]. The Courteous Fairy and the World. Two Poems of the Late John Meli in the Sicilian Dialect with biographical notes by the Abbe Contreras on the Author; and the Notes in the Second edition of His Works, to the Poem of The World. Freely Translated into English Verse by W. W. Barker.

Messina: 1815 to 1834. An unpublished manuscript English translation of Sicilian poet Giovanni Meli’s La Fata Galanti (The Courteous Fairy, 1762). Meli (1740-1815) was a physician and poet who wrote in his native dialect of Palermo and promoted and collected Sicilian literature.

The Courteous Fairy, a satirical poem in eight cantos, is one of his earliest works, written at the age of 22, four years before his first published collection. Although much of Meli’s work has been translated into English and published, La Fata Galanti has only been translated in print in English recently. This particular translation remains unpublished. The second title mentioned, The World, is not actually included in the bound manuscript.

The poem itself tells of a would-be poet who rescues a toad from a peasant. The toad is actually the Courteous Fairy in disguise. She offers him any wish, and he asks for her help in becoming a poet. So they traverse mythical lands on a winged horse, and ultimately his soul separates from his body to go to the Underworld where he meets numerous figures of literature, myth, and antiquity. For a final anti-climactic surprise, the Fairy tells him to give up poetry for more realistic pursuits, and reveals herself to be the creation of his own imagination.

William Wilton Barker (1769-1856), the translator, was the British consul in Messina. His wife was from Palermo, which may explain his proficiency in the Sicilian dialect.

Barker apparently made several manuscript copies of this and other Meli poems, perhaps with the intention of circulating them among his literary friends.

Beautifully handwritten on lined paper by John Howard Payne, an American actor, playwright, and diplomat, who is today most remembered as the creator of Home! Sweet Home!, a song he wrote in 1822 that became widely popular in the United States. McClinton, John Howard Payne Papers, 3-volume set: Volumes 7–14 of the Payne-Butrick Papers (2022, note to vol. 13 (mentioning another Barker translation handwritten by Payne)).

Lavishly bound in full walnut crushed morocco, intricately gilt, with five raised bands, crushed green morocco doublures with wide walnut morocco dentelles, also intricately gilt, silk moiré end leaves, and top edge gilt, in a custom slipcase.

4to. Manuscript on lined paper. Very good with wear to edges and spine, and a tear to one leaf not affecting contents. A lovely manuscript in an equally lovely binding. Item #337

Price: $1,800.00