Where does the Decameron begin? Editorial practice and tables of rubrics

Tables of rubrics, though present in manuscripts and editions of the Decameron, are ignored in the critical literature and treated as instrumental paratext in a recent critical edition. This article argues that tables of rubrics should be viewed as part of the Decameron, proposing a new definition of paratext. Analysis of tables presented in editions of the Decameron up to 1600 contributes new empirical evidence regarding the relationship between editorial fashioning and literary interpretation: the novelle and characters of the brigata are emphasized at the expense of the primary narrator, which continues to have an impact on Boccaccio’s authorial status.