Trattato Della Corte Del Signor Di Refuge. Tradotto di Francese in questo nostro Volgare Da D. Girolamo Canini d’Anghiari.
Venice, G.B. Ciotti 1621.
8vo (151 x 97 mm.). [viii], [44], 29, 360, [5]p. and FOUR FOLDING PLATES WITH SEVEN SCHEMATIC LETTERPRESS CHARTS, five smaller charts in the text, engraved arms of Cardinal Carlo de’Medici on the title.
CONTEMPORARY GILT-RULED RED MOROCCO over pasteboard (discreetly touched up at edges), gilt sunbursts in the corners, gilt-ruled spine (minor worming) with the title, author and a sunburst stamped vertically in gilt.
First Edition in Italian. What Machiavelli did for the Prince, Refuge does for the Courtier. The first part of this popular and cynical guide to self-advancement at court outlines the necessary qualities — civility and a readiness to please are required for making your debut, but for maintaining your status, you need patience, humility, boldness and capability. The second part details the ruthless employment of these qualities in cultivating the favor of a prince and his hangers-on.
The earliest editions of the text were published anonymously. I HAVE FOUND NO EARLIER EDITION THAN THE PRESENT THAT NAMES THE AUTHOR AS REFUGE, now identified with the courtier Eustache de Refuge. This Italian translation by Girolamo Canini (c. 1551-1631) adds twelve charts outlining the key ideas of Refuge’s treatise as well as those of Castiglione and Grimaldi. Two copies in American libraries. In good condition (some foxing around the edges), bookplate of librarian and Dante scholar Giuseppe Lando Passerini (1858-1932).
¶Anglo, Machiavelli - The First Century 614-22; Montandon, Bibliographie des traités de savoir-vivre en Europe 46-7; Griffante, Le Edizioni veneziane del Seicento II: 173; see Heltzel’s A Checklist of Courtesy Books in the Newberry Library 493-500 (1622 French and later English editions only) and see Kelso’s Doctrine of the English Gentleman 744 (French editions).
Price: $4,200.00