Autograph Quotation Signed

This Italian professor of philosophy and Italian language/literature visited the U.S. to research the public schools and decided to stay; he wed noted poet/writer/educator/socialite Anne Lynch and their New York brownstone became a popular salon for authors and artists. AQS, 1p, 6 3/4" X 9", Newport, RI, 31 September 1872. Addressed to "Carlo T. Brooks." Near fine. Mild age toning; small chip at upper left, not affecting text. Botta boldly pens in brown ink (entirely in Italian) an original 9-line verse on this leaf from a keepsake album of some sort. Recipient Charles T. Brooks, 1813-83, was a transcendentalist, a Unitarian pastor in Newport, Rhode Island and a translator of German texts (notable Goethe and Schiller) as well as a poet and writer who appeared in the transcendentalist publication "The Dial." Botta's verse, roughly translated, reads: "To Charles T. Brooks / by Channing enlightened disciple / zealous apostle of song and civilization, / of letters of cultural eminence, / of Goethe a happy interpreter / of Dante's homeland a devoted admirer, / these lines / in this album he writes about friendship, / and as a sign of [?] and sincere affection / dedicates to his friend / Vincenzo Botta." At lower left he notes the date and place -- since his wife lived and taught for many years in Providence, Rhode Island, Botta may well have been visiting her family there at this time. In 1880 Brooks published "William Ellery Channing: A Centennial Memory," a tribute to this fellow Unitarian minister whose theology much influenced the transcendentalists. Quite an intriguing and unusual item.