Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis (The last letters of Jacopo Ortis): drafts and editions

The story of the writing and publishing of Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis is rather complex and stretches out over a number of years. A project for an epistolary novel entitled Laura, Lettere (Laura, Letters) was in the Piano di Studi of 1796 in the Original Prose section; some critics have identified in this incomplete work a sort early nucleus of the novel, although there are no elements that prove there is a link between the two works. A first draft of the novel, made up of 45 letters, was prepared by Foscolo and delivered to the publisher Jacopo Marsigli between the end of  1798 and the start of 1799, when the writer was in Bologna. The printing of the still-incomplete novel proceeded as the writer handed material to the publisher, but it was abruptly halted in April 1799 when Foscolo enlisted in a regiment of the National Guard and abandoned Bologna to take part in Military actions against the Austro-Russians. Marsigli then gave the job of completing the novel to a Bolognese literary figure, Angelo Sassuoli, who reworked the letters already handed in by Foscolo, censoring all the passages that were compromising from a political or religious point of view, and added a second part, perhaps partially based on Foscolo's notes and partially made up. The book was published in this format in August 1799, first with the original title (and the date of 1798) and then with the more sentimental title Vera storia di due amanti infelici o sia ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis (The true story of two unhappy Lovers or the last letters of Jacopo Ortis). After disowning this edition and returning to Milan, Foscolo resumed work on the novel which, after a partial print not for public consumption, was published in 1802 by Genio Tipografico. A new edition of the novel was then published in Zurich in 1816 with some additions (including the letter of March 17 regarding Italy's independence) and Notizia Bibliografica Intorno alle Ultime Lettere di Jacopo Ortis (Bibliographical News About Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis), which reconstructed the history of the work's publication. The final edition prepared by the author came out of London's John Murray in 1817 in two volumes.