A new book featuring letters and inscriptions dating from the ancient past to modern-day Malta seeks to tell the country’s history through the words of those who penned them. 

View of Maltese Watchtower – Watercolour on paper, 1916, painted by a British officer convalescing in Malta.

The letters, many of which are being published for the first time, include first-hand accounts by those who survived major events and others written by grandmasters, prime ministers and ordinary civilians. 

Letters sent to German Flight Lieutenant Iring Englisch, who had been heavily involved in the war against Malta and a 1799 letter signed by French officers during the siege of Valletta are just two of the several correspondences published in the book The Malta Letters.

Author Robert Attard told the Times of Malta that the book recounts Maltese history through inscriptions, notes and letters in private collections. The author wanted to let the letters speak for themselves, with captions providing the necessary context and information. 

The book gives a bird’s eye view of the history of Malta from Punic times to 1968, with the oldest ‘letters’ consisting of inscriptions on coins and pottery and the most modern ones being typewritten letters.

Among others, the book includes the only known copy of Gratulatorii Plausus – a poem written by Maltese poet Francesco Buonamico, the second poet known to have written in Maltese. 

A list of Buonamico’s international publications had been published in the 18th century by Franz Paul von Smitmer, but the contents of his obscure poem Gratulatorii Plausus remained a mystery, Dr Attard said.

The book gives a bird’s eye view of the history of Malta from Punic times to 1968

The poem was known to exist, however, a copy could not be found anywhere, Dr Attard noted.  The poem, which came in the form of a non-descript tiny pamphlet, was missing from the most advanced collections. 

Even the largest libraries of Europe did not have a copy of it.

“I was immensely lucky to locate the only known extant copy of Buonamico’s lost poem in Modena… I believe that Gratulatorii Plausus was an attempt to create a ‘Maltese’ pocket-sized version of Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata.”

Published by Miller Distributors Ltd, Daniel Cilia took care of the photography and design of the book.

Rental agreement executed by Grandmaster Zondadari’s Court – Ink on calf skin 1720. The document is a rental agreement that refers to Jean Baptiste Ludovic de Bocsosel-Mongontier and the Order’s Commandery in de Chazelle. The de Bocsosel-Mongontier family gave many knights to the Order of Malta.