Abstract

Some Renaissance Italian printed books are linked explicitly to the oral transmission of the texts that they contain. Editions can draw attention to previous performances of works such as speeches, sermons, lectures, poems or plays. Performed texts could be altered before printing, in their language or their substance, and the paratexts of their editions can give information about the process of translation or revision. Some performers were surprisingly young. A few editions look in the other direction, from print towards orality, by specifying that texts are suitable to be spoken or sung. These cases show how print served both to memorialize and to foster oral culture, sustaining its social importance