ARISTOTLE (SEGNI, Bernardo)

ARISTOTLE; SEGNI, Bernardo, (tr.). Trattato dei governi.

Venice, Bartholomeo detto l’Imperador & Francesco, 1551.

 

 

 

£ 1,500

 

8vo, ff. 230 (xviii), a-z8 A-H8, 247 of 248 leaves, lacking final blank. Italic letter, a little Roman. Elegant full-page illustration on t-p with title within a shield framed by architectural portico, which is decorated with putti, figures and floral elements. Blank t-p verso with early autograph of “Giovanni Messer Cantucci”(?) heavily crossed out in ink, which damaged part of the t-p and the first historiated initial of the text. Decorated initials and capital spaces with guide-letters. Library bookplate of Noël Pinelli on front pastedown. Quire D and E quite browned, some spotting and light age yellowing throughout. In early limp vellum with ink title and library label to spine. A nice copy with good clean margins, despite the light foxing and the worn title page.

 

Third edition (first printed in 1547) of this Italian translation in Florentine vernacular of Aristotle’s Politics, which is dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici. Bernardo Segni was a historian, diplomat and Hellenist who also translated Aristotle’s Ethics into Italian.

 

Bibliography: Adams, A-1922. Graesse, I, 218. Not in BMC.