The beginning of Italian studies in North America can be traced to 1825 when Lorenzo Da Ponte joined the faculty of Columbia College. Da Ponte had arrived in New York in 1805, an immigrant grocer and private teacher, who had fallen on hard times following his days as Mozart's librettist. While at Columbia, he finished writing his memoirs, that had been first published as a slim volume in 1807 ("Storia compendiousa della vita di Lorenzo Da Ponte"), then as a three volume work published serially from 1823 to 1829, and this revised and augmented edition, published in 1829-1830. Da Ponte considered it to be his lifetime achievement.