DANTE IN AMERICA A HISTORICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDY BY THEODORE W. KOCH America, the new Ravenna of the great poet" SCARTAZZINI PREFAC E. SOMEWHAT more than two years ago my valued friend and former teacher, the President of our Dante Society, spoke to me of the subject of the present work as a phase of American literary history in which he had been interested at the time of the Dante festival of 1865. For that occasion he had made a list of the more important contributions from America to Dantesque literature and, without keeping a copy for himself, sent it to the authorities in charge of the celebration at Florence. A generation has passed since then, and Dante has gained in favor with us. When Mr. Norton spoke to me of his interest in the matter, he casually remarked that he would like to see a résumé of what had been written in America about his favorite author. The suggestion thus thrown out was harbored by me while engaged in other researches. The subject was very attractive, and by degrees a considerable number of notes and bibliographical references accumulated on my hands. Learning of some comparatively unknown facts in the career of Lorenzo Da Ponte, and receiving, through the kindness of Miss Virginia Wilde, of New Orleans, the papers of her grandfather, the late Richard Henry Wilde, I was encouraged by our Secretary to continue my investigations and prepare for our Society a paper on the subject. The work was intended for last year's Report, but, owing to repeated interruptions, the putting of it into final shape consumed the leisure moments of many months, and it was at last found necessary to delay its publication until the present. So many books had to be turned over in the |