The Writing Bilingually Catalogue, 1465-1700
Self-translated books produced in early modern Italy and France
Compiled by Dr Sara Miglietti and Dr Marco Spreafico, with the collaboration of Ms Eugenia Sisto
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Discover the multilingual world of early modern Europe through the Writing Bilingually Catalogue (WBC), the first large-scale repertory of self-translations produced in Italy and France from the early age of print to the end of the seventeenth century. From travel accounts and funeral orations to hefty tomes on medicine and theology, WBC brings together over 500 prose works produced in two or more language versions by early modern authors and their collaborators, enriching and transforming our understanding of multilingual authorship in the early modern period.
Gathered here together for the very first time, these works provide a unique window onto a world where classical languages and modern vernaculars coexisted in fruitful symbiosis. Writers self-translated across different languages to reach wider readerships while displaying linguistic mastery and retaining control over their work. In so doing they often revised their original source-texts, whether to adapt them to a different intended public or for other reasons. From Leon Battista Alberti’s On Painting to John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, many important works from this period exist in different (but equally authorial) language versions, which are best studied together like panels of a same diptych.
WBC is the result of a research project based at London's Warburg Institute and funded by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2022-221). Research started in January 2023 and will continue until March 2026, with regular updates to this online database. Eventually, this resource will be accompanied by a print catalogue that will be made available in open-access format. Please help us by sending us comments and suggestions!
This database is a work in progress. If you spot any inaccuracies or know of any works not currently included in our corpus, please get in touch! We will be delighted to acknowledge your help.
Last updated: 14 June 2025
Cover image: Leiden University Library in 1610, from Johannes Woudanus. Stedeboeck der Nederlanden, Amsterdam: Willem Blaeu, 1649. WikiMedia Commons.
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