This volume is a monumental addition to the series The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series. In physical size alone this collection of letters testifies both to the immense commitment of the editor and translator, Deanna Shemek, to such a daunting project and to the epistolary output of Isabella d’Este (1474–1539). As Marchioness of Mantua, Isabella d’Este kept copybooks of her voluminous correspondence, a practice that has allowed scholars to utilize the letters in a biographical context or to follow a particular strand of Isabella d’Este’s interests and active involvement in many areas: music, literature, art, and politics, just to name the best known.

Deanna Shemek has translated 830 letters for this collection, which is by any measure an exceptional and impressive piece of work. It is the first edition of Isabella’s letters in any language so that it marks an important development in the study of this woman who has attracted the often passionate attention of scholars from so many different fields. The translation is excellent and highly readable. The letters themselves are divided chronologically into five groups of which the first three cover the years 1479–1519, reflecting Isabella d’Este’s intense cultural and political activities of that period. The last years of Isabella’s life have often been treated rather cursorily by scholars; here the last section (1530–39) contains some eighty letters. It is crucial to emphasize that the Selected Letters represents only a fraction of the number Isabella d’Este wrote during her lifetime, but at the same time it is worthwhile noting that the selection goes beyond the availability of her correspondence that we have from biographies of the marchioness, the work of Luzio and Renier and the contributions of, for example, Clifford Brown in art history. Any selection of the correspondence of Isabella d’Este is bound to cause headaches for the editor. She has been represented above all as a cultural operator, but her energies were also heavily directed toward the political. This edition takes a balanced approach to both aspects of Isabella d’Este’s biography resulting in an impressive overview of her multifarious activities.

In a work such as this the apparatus plays a crucial role in allowing those readers, in particular students, who do not have a deep familiarity with Isabella d’Este’s milieu and the vast network of correspondents to be able to engage with the correspondence. Selected Letters is a feat of concision and precision in regard to the notes and other information necessary to understand the individual letters. The introduction to the volume is brief, covering biographical issues, critical reception, and letter-writing in the Renaissance. A short chronology of Isabella d’Este’s life in tabular form may have been useful to create an accessible and quick reference point. Each section is prefaced by a useful overview of the main political and familial events covered in the letters that assists the reader in assessing them in the light of Isabella d’Este’s overriding concerns of the period. The letters themselves all have a brief summary of the contents—a vital resource to navigate around the collection and can be used in conjunction with the index to locate others that deal with similar matters. The thematic index allows the reader to follow topics across the chronological range of the letters. The letters have footnotes the length of which is dictated by the necessity of supplying some historical context or providing essential commentary or bibliography. The reader is further assisted by genealogical tables of the Estensi and Gonzaga. There is also a glossary of names that gives the bare biographical bones of addressees and people mentioned in the correspondence. This is an admirable achievement given that the volume is bulky and that it is at the same time vital to elucidate the references and contexts. Although students may baulk at the number of letters, they offer a unique opening onto the Italian Renaissance in ways that are not possible with other kinds of texts. Selected Letters is a splendid achievement that will enable further study of Isabella d’Este, permitting a sustained study of a complex, strong character not fully seen before.