Two books bound in vellum with manuscript writing on them are pictured on top of each other.
Detail of a printed book shows the title page of L'Americana Ramminga. Includes a frontispiece illustration, text in Italian, and a decorative flourish.
Detail of a printed book shows text in Italian.

L'Americana Ramminga

Pietro Chiari
1764

In the 18th century, the Americas were a preferred backdrop for many novels. This counterfeit edition (following the Venetian first of 1763) of an Italian novel recounts the adventures of a female Chilean protagonist kidnapped by buccaneers. Attributed to Pietro Chiari, the novel opens with Donna Innez’s abduction from the Chilean port city of Valparaiso; via a string of North and South American cities including the remote Juan Fernandez Islands, Havana, Veracruz, Mexico City, and the mines of Oaxaca, she ends up reuniting with her husband in Boston, New England.

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