Judging books from the cover: for a data-base of Renaissance dialogue-forms in Italy

Abstract

The paper aims to propose the first results of a quantitative survey on the dialogue-form in the Italian Renaissance. Among the characteristics of this writing and argumentative practice, spread especially between the sixteenth and sixteenth centuries, there is in fact the vast print production. A macroscopic vision of this phenomenon allows, through a quantitative and qualitative investigation at the same time, to evaluate generic trends, to study publishing practices related to the dissemination of knowledge and, finally, to grasp with greater precision the moments of historical evolution of this form of writing.