Niccolo Machiavelli. THE FLORENTINE HISTORY IN VIII. BOOKS. London: Printed for Charles Harper, and John Amery, 1674. Second English edition. Full blind stamped speckled calf, with raised bands, all edges stained. Separate pagination. 8vo; [16], 73, [1]; 94; 76; 70; 82; 76; 74; 81, [13 table of contents]pp. With frontispiece portrait, decorated initials and head-pieces, printed marginalia. ESTC R22284.

7 x 4 1/2 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine political philosopher, historian, and writer with a significant influence on subsequent politicians and philosophers. His Istorie Fiorentine (Florentine Histories) was commissioned in 1520 and completed in 1525, and eventually published in Italian five years after Machiavelli's death. It presents the history of the city up through 1492.

Boards with edgewear, corners rubbed, small area of insect damage, back cover with staining; joints rubbed with cracking, spine with creasing and losses at head; hinges cracked yet binding overall very sturdy; endpapers with staining from binder's glue and associated offsetting, small losses and manuscript, front paste-down separating; pages lightly toned with occasional small edge tear, minor loss or stain; damp staining and marginalia frequent in preliminaries and Book I; occasional grime, wormhole, and additional damp staining at margins; after Book I pages generally clean and unmarked.