Beschreibung:

MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo (1469-1527). Libro della arte della guerra di Niccolo Machiavegli cittadino et segretario fiorentino. Florence: the Heirs of Filippo Giunta, 16th August 1521. 8° (133 x 82mm). 124 leaves. Collation: a-p 8 q 4 . 14pp. of full-page woodcut diagrams on p4 v -q3 r (most shaved with slight loss), woodcut printer's device on verso of final leaf. (Title and first seven leaves strengthened at inner margins obscuring some text, c6 and c7 with rust-hole and resultant loss of a few characters, 2pp. errata shaved with a little loss, other leaves close-shaved occasionally just touching the headlines.) 17th-century English vellum, gilt, crowned initials H[enry] L[ongueville] stamped in black at centre of each cover, manuscript titling on spine (slight rodent damage along lower edge of upper cover). Provenance : inscriptions in at least two early hands on title; Henry, Viscount Longueville (1664-1704, binding). FIRST EDITION OF MACHIAVELLI'S FIRST MAJOR PUBLISHED WORK. RARE. A 'methodical treatise, setting forth Machiavelli's views on military matters, digesting his theories respecting the superiority of national troops, the ineffeciency of fortresses, the necessity of relying upon infantry in war, and the comparative insignificance of artillery. It is strongly coloured with his enthusiasm for ancient Rome; and specially upon the topic of artillery it displays a want of insight into the actualities of modern warfare. We may regard it as a supplement or appendix to the Principe and the Discorsi , since Machiavelli held it for a fundamental axiom that states are powerless unless completely armed in permanence.' (John Addington Symonds, article on Machiavelli in Encl. Brit ., 11th ed., 1911, vol.XVII, p.236). Several manuscript copies of the work (originally entitled De Re Militari ) were in circulation by 1520, and there is some controversy as to how great a role Machiavelli himself played in its publication. (Cf. Bertelli and Innocenti, pp. xiii-xiv.) The work was warmly received from the outset: Cardinal Salviati wrote to Machiavelli, on 6 September 1521, that "el libro vostro . . . quanto più l'ho considerato, tanto più mi piace, parendomi che al perfettissimo modo di guerreggiare antico habbiate aggiunto tutto quello che è di buono nel guerreggiar moderno, e fatto una composizione di esercito invincibile". Despite the failure of Machiavelli's strategy when put into practice at the battle of Milan in 1526, the work became one of the most respected military treatises of the 16th century; Charles V reputedly kept a copy by his bedside, and within fifty years of its first publication, the work had been translated into almost every major European language. The vellum used for the binding of the present copy is taken from the cover of a 4° volume. S. Bertelli & P. Innocenti Bibliografia Machiavelliana pp. xiii-xxi and no. 3; Gerber II, p.44.