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CASTIGLIONE, Baldassare (1478-1529). Il libro del cortegiano. Venice: heirs of Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano d’Asola, April 1528.
First edition of Castiglione’s famous guide to courtly manners – an icon of Italian Renaissance literature. Composed as a fictional dialogue between important members of early 16th-century Italian society, Il libro del cortegiano features figures such as Pietro Bembo, Ludovico da Canossa, Bernardo da Bibbiena and others discussing the virtues of the good courtier over the course of four evenings. The discourse focuses on the central concepts of ‘grazia’, ‘misura’, ‘ingenio’ and ‘arte’. The work had a significant influence on Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare and many others, all of whom helped to shape the figure of the gentilhomme or gentleman. As both poet and diplomat, Castiglione served the dukes of Urbino, among others, before serving as papal representative to the court of Emperor Charles V. Raphael painted him in a celebrated portrait of 1515, depicting Castiglione precisely as the ideal courtier described in the present work. Adams C-924; PMM 59.
Folio (310 x 208mm). Woodcut Aldine anchor device on title and verso of final leaf, 5- and 6-line initial spaces with guide-letters (small tear and repaired hole in title, first and last gatherings repaired in gutter, a few repaired tears once touching text, occasional light worming and thumb-soiling). Old vellum (restored). Provenance: sonnet beginning ‘Consenti, o Mar di bellezza, e virtute’ inscribed in a contemporary Italian hand in the margin of a5, against where it is mentioned in the printed text – occasional contemporary underlining and manicules.
First edition of Castiglione’s famous guide to courtly manners – an icon of Italian Renaissance literature. Composed as a fictional dialogue between important members of early 16th-century Italian society, Il libro del cortegiano features figures such as Pietro Bembo, Ludovico da Canossa, Bernardo da Bibbiena and others discussing the virtues of the good courtier over the course of four evenings. The discourse focuses on the central concepts of ‘grazia’, ‘misura’, ‘ingenio’ and ‘arte’. The work had a significant influence on Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare and many others, all of whom helped to shape the figure of the gentilhomme or gentleman. As both poet and diplomat, Castiglione served the dukes of Urbino, among others, before serving as papal representative to the court of Emperor Charles V. Raphael painted him in a celebrated portrait of 1515, depicting Castiglione precisely as the ideal courtier described in the present work. Adams C-924; PMM 59.
Folio (310 x 208mm). Woodcut Aldine anchor device on title and verso of final leaf, 5- and 6-line initial spaces with guide-letters (small tear and repaired hole in title, first and last gatherings repaired in gutter, a few repaired tears once touching text, occasional light worming and thumb-soiling). Old vellum (restored). Provenance: sonnet beginning ‘Consenti, o Mar di bellezza, e virtute’ inscribed in a contemporary Italian hand in the margin of a5, against where it is mentioned in the printed text – occasional contemporary underlining and manicules.
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