![MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò (1469-1527). Comedia facetissima intitulata Mandragola. Cesena: Girolamo Soncino, [1527].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0232_000(machiavelli_niccolo_comedia_facetissima_intitulata_mandragola_cesena_g101651).jpg?w=1)
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MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò (1469-1527). Comedia facetissima intitulata Mandragola. Cesena: Girolamo Soncino, [1527].
The Valmadonna copy of Soncino’s edition of Machiavelli’s Mandragola, “the best modern comedy written up to that time, and perhaps the best ever written” (Ridolfi). Very scarce in any edition, Soncino’s printing was the fourth (and only the second to appear under its true title). First performed during the 1526 carnival, this comedy of sex, drugs, and attempted murder pillories the hypocrisies of the Medici family. This copy is from the library of Alessandro Albani, patron of the art historian Johann Winckelmann. Bertelli and Innocenti, Bibliografia Machiavelliana 8.
12mo (128 x 70mm). (Faint dampstain in upper corner.) Modern vellum; gilt morocco box. Provenance: Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1799; stamp) – The Valmadonna Library.
The Valmadonna copy of Soncino’s edition of Machiavelli’s Mandragola, “the best modern comedy written up to that time, and perhaps the best ever written” (Ridolfi). Very scarce in any edition, Soncino’s printing was the fourth (and only the second to appear under its true title). First performed during the 1526 carnival, this comedy of sex, drugs, and attempted murder pillories the hypocrisies of the Medici family. This copy is from the library of Alessandro Albani, patron of the art historian Johann Winckelmann. Bertelli and Innocenti, Bibliografia Machiavelliana 8.
12mo (128 x 70mm). (Faint dampstain in upper corner.) Modern vellum; gilt morocco box. Provenance: Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1799; stamp) – The Valmadonna Library.