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 outcome 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 ended in March 2026, eventually resulting in two main outputs: a two-volume annotated catalogue and an accompanying anthology of primary sources in translation. Both are currently under review with Brill and will be published open-access on Brill's digital platform in late 2026 or early 2027. The project also yielded a PhD thesis on self-translation and language debates (questione della lingua) in Renaissance Italy.
This database reflects an earlier phase of our research. The information it contains is not exhaustive and may have been subjected to revision and/or integration in our printed catalogue, currently under review with Brill. If you plan to use any of the information in the database and wish to check its status, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us!
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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