Published in Milan, probably in the author's home, who had a printing press there, see Melzi, Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime di scrittori italiani , v. 1, p. 172. The Chapters of an Hidden Author (1785) constitute the most lively contribution that Carcano made to the playful style. A certain criticism of Arcadian vanity and pure rhetorical virtuosity would even seem to push him towards the results of Parini's criticism, if not for a pronounced sense of literary dilettantism that distanced him from Parini, which takes away from his pages much of the profound civil commitment that Parini inextricably linked to the exercise of writing.