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Folio. (viii), 665 (i.e. 657), (1) pp, complete including the final leaf with the Medici arms. Eighteenth-century mottled calf, spine gilt. Washed. First quire reinserted, several leaves restored including lower corner of first few leaves and upper corner of last leaf. A handsome, wide-margined copy. FIRST EDITION. A masterpiece of scientific history, Guicciardini s History of Italy was undoubtedly the greatest historical work that had appeared since the beginning of the modern era. It remains the most solid monument of Italian reason in the 16th century, the final triumph of that Florentine school of philosophical historians which included Machiavelli … (Britannica, 11th ed.). Born in Florence, Francesco Guicciardini s colleagues and contemporaries included Niccolò Machiavelli, Girolamo Savonarola, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and popes Leo X, Clement VII, and Paul III. Oliver Goldsmith wrote of him: He was at once (what seldom happens to be united in the same person) a scholar, a soldier, and a politician. This lent him a unique perspective on the history of the powerful nation-state of Florence and the role of Italy in Europe at the turning of the sixteenth century. The Historia d Italia was the first to discuss the Italian peninsula as a unified entity among the other nation-states in Europe. In his celebrated Historia, the first history of Europe (PMM), Francesco Guicciardini demonstrated the interdependence of political events across the continent, ushering in a new age of political and historical scholarship. He was less interested in the facts themselves … than in their causes and effects; these he discussed with the perspicacity of a Renaissance politician and diplomatist, dissecting the intentions and actions of the chief players on the European stage and proving … that worldly passion, ambition, and self-interest are the mainspring of human activity (Printing and the Mind of Man). The Historia covers the tumultuous years 1494 (the death of Lorenzo de Medici) to 1532 (the death of Clement VII). This period also produced Guicciardini s friend Machiavelli, with whom he is often compared as a political thinker. The father of modern history, Guicciardini (1483-1540) played a central role in the political events of his day as advisor and confidant to three popes, governor of several Italian states, ambassador, administrator, military leader, advisor to the Medicis, and close friend of Machiavelli. In 1537 he retired to his villa to write a history of his times. La Historia di Italia was published posthumously in 1561. Voltaire said of Guicciardini and his history: Italy found its Thucydides in Guicciardini, or rather its Xenophon, for he often commanded troops himself in the wars he recounts. Part of his expansive career was spent as the lieutenant general of Clement VII s papal armies during the Sack of Rome, and his knowledge of the events as they transpired is undisputed. L Historia d Italia strongly reflects the experience Guicciardini had while working under several popes and the anti-clerical tone that resulted. Several parts of this original 1561 edition were censored for their anti-papist sentiment and therefore this volume contains but 16 of the 20 books. These censored passages found their way into circulation by Protestant publicists as showing a dissolute and power-hungry papacy (Moulakis, 33). The reception of the Historia in its time was extraordinary. Within 20 years, it was translated into French and then English and recognized throughout Europe as a vital part of any scholar s library. By 1600, it was available in at least six translations and had been reprinted, with some additions, ten times. A fine copy of a book now scarce in private hands, l Historia d Italia is one of the greatest Italian works of the 16th century. Examples in collector s condition are rare in the market. Seller Inventory # ABE-1681227834137
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