Details
MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò (1469-1527). Nicholas Machiavel's Prince. Also, the life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca... Translated out of Italian into English, by E[dward] D[acres]. London: R. Bishop for William Hills and Daniel Pakeman, 1640.
12o (139 x 82 mm). Rule borders to title and text, woodcut and type ornament headpieces, woodcut initials. (Small tears to lower corners of G6, L3, M5 and M6 catching rule border, tiny marginal hole to last leaf, occasional minor soiling.) Contemporary blind-ruled calf (skilfully rebacked, some restoration to board edges, lower cover abraded.) Provenance: 19th-century annotation, C10r; H. Bradley Martin (Sotheby's, New York, 30 April 1990, lot 3020); Robert A. Hefner III (Christie's, New York, 17 May 1996, lot 31).
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. "Machiavelli founded the science of modern politics on the study of mankind--it should be remembered that a parallel work to 'The Prince' was his historical essay on the first ten books of Livy. Politics was a science to be divorced entirely from ethics, and nothing must stand in the way of its machinery" (PMM). This first translation into English was published over a century after the original Roman edition. The book's sinister reputation preceded it--in the translator's dedication to James, Duke of Lenox and his Epistle to the Reader, Dacres justifies the presentation of the work to an English audience as the medicinal application of a poison: "This book carryes its poyson and malice in it; yet mee thinks the judicious peruser may honestly make use of it in the actions of his life, with advantage". Whether Machiavelli's writings will be used for good or evil is the choice of the reader; and "if thou consider well the actions of the world, thou shalt find him much practic'd by those that condemne him". Bertelli & Innocenti XVII, 38; Gerber III, p. 104, no. 2; STC 17168.
12o (139 x 82 mm). Rule borders to title and text, woodcut and type ornament headpieces, woodcut initials. (Small tears to lower corners of G6, L3, M5 and M6 catching rule border, tiny marginal hole to last leaf, occasional minor soiling.) Contemporary blind-ruled calf (skilfully rebacked, some restoration to board edges, lower cover abraded.) Provenance: 19th-century annotation, C10r; H. Bradley Martin (Sotheby's, New York, 30 April 1990, lot 3020); Robert A. Hefner III (Christie's, New York, 17 May 1996, lot 31).
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. "Machiavelli founded the science of modern politics on the study of mankind--it should be remembered that a parallel work to 'The Prince' was his historical essay on the first ten books of Livy. Politics was a science to be divorced entirely from ethics, and nothing must stand in the way of its machinery" (PMM). This first translation into English was published over a century after the original Roman edition. The book's sinister reputation preceded it--in the translator's dedication to James, Duke of Lenox and his Epistle to the Reader, Dacres justifies the presentation of the work to an English audience as the medicinal application of a poison: "This book carryes its poyson and malice in it; yet mee thinks the judicious peruser may honestly make use of it in the actions of his life, with advantage". Whether Machiavelli's writings will be used for good or evil is the choice of the reader; and "if thou consider well the actions of the world, thou shalt find him much practic'd by those that condemne him". Bertelli & Innocenti XVII, 38; Gerber III, p. 104, no. 2; STC 17168.