The Malta Letters

‘The Malta Letters’ by Robert Attard tackles Maltese history in an innovative way by telling the history of Malta through inscriptions, notes and letters in private collections.

Most of the materials featured in this book are being published for the very first time.

This anecdotal virtual tour through the history of Malta recounts the history of the island through a series of writings penned in the context of major historical developments.

Each letter described in the book has a story which was waiting to be told and this book begins to tell this story.

Letters published in this book contain fresh insights into Maltese history. The book contains a number of first-hand accounts written by those who survived major events in Maltese history, juxtaposing their narratives with those of their adversaries. This book publishes the only known copy of the ‘Maltese’ poem Gratulatorii Plausus, letters written by Grandmasters and Prime Ministers but does not only deal with the lives of the great and powerful; it publishes correspondence exchanged by ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.

This book tells the story of those who saw Maltese history in the making.

In the book’s foreword, Giovanni Bonello remarks that, “Robert Attard has his own systems, and very personal they are, too.

“Vivid revivals of what happened in the past abound, but not as part of a systematic chronicle. Here we have episodes intimately linked with objects, often old letters, sometimes artefacts or other collectibles. Attard does not only focus on the object itself, however curious or desirable it may be, but then equally chases after its context and its rel- evance – what light it received from its past, what light it throws on its present.

“He wants to share with readers the story behind articles which caught his fancy and that the passage of time has spared. For his own inquisitiveness, for your own delectation. Above anything else, Robert Attard has that elusive gift – a serious historian who can also be fun.”