Historie fiorentine di Niccolo Machiavelli cittadino, et segretario fiorentino

4to (205x133 mm). [4], 9-224 leaves. Signatures: [A]4 B-Z8 AA-EE8. As is often the case, lacking the final 4 leaves (quire FF4) containing the errata (ll. FF1-2), a blank FF3, and the printer's device (FF4v). Moreover, due to a mistake in the composition of quire S, leaves 139v, 140r, 141v, and 142r have been omitted, while leaves 139r, 140v, 141r, and 142v are incorrectly repeated. Printer's device on the title page. Contemporary flexible vellum (recased, new endleaves). Preserved in a cloth case. Slightly browned, light marginal damp stains, all in all a good, genuine copy.
RARE FIRST FLORENCE EDITION, possibly the first edition overall, of this landmark of historiographical literature.
After Machiavelli's death in 1527 there was a rush to publish his remaining works, and a fierce competition began between the Roman printer Blado and the Florentine printer Guinta to be the first to press. Although Giunta had been given the approval of Machiavelli's heirs and rushed to honor his fellow Florentine with elegant editions of his works, both Blado's and Giunta's editions of “The Florentine History” appeared almost simultaneously. It is generally presumed that Blado's Roman edition, dated 25 March 1532, preceded Giunta's by two days. Some copies of the Giunta edition, (as in the present copy), are dated 27 March 1532 in the colophon, while others are dated 16 March 1532. It is possible that Giunta printed an incorrect 16 March date to convince the public that his edition was indeed the first and to match the date of Giunta's dedication to the duke Alessandro de' Medici, printed on the title-page verso, which is followed by Machiavelli's dedication addressed to Pope Clemens VII.
In 1520, Machiavelli was commissioned by Giulio de' Medici to write an account of the history of Florence. The book he produced “is the first example in Italian literature of a national biography, the first attempt in any literature to trace the vicissitudes of a people's life in their logical sequence, deducing each successive phase from passions or necessities inherent in preceding circumstance, reasoning upon them from general principles, and inferring corollaries for the conduct of the future” (Britannica).
Edit 16, CNCE27967; S. Bertelli & P. Innocenti, Bibliografia machiavelliana, Verona, 1979, p. 8, no. 17; D. Decia, R. Delfiol & L.S. Camerini, I Giunti tipografi editori di Firenze, Florence, 1978-1979, no. 227; W.A. Pettas, The Giunti of Florence, New Castle DE, 2013, pp. 382-383, no. 243.