Abstract

The article focuses on a set of documents concerning the first Accademia dei Lincei (1603-1630), which testify a number of attempts to codify a form for epistolary correspondence between members, at a time when the institution was resuming its activity after a phase of karst exixstence. In the first part, the contribution explores the sources and functions of the various codifications of correspondence in the Academy, broadening the view to the discussions they produced within the institution and explaining the reasons why they were not put into practice in everyday correspondence between members. In the second part, through a selection of letters, the formulas of suprascriptio, inscriptio, and subscriptio used in Lyncean correspondence are examined, offering a first sample of the epistolary writing practices of the Roman Academy.