CASTIGLIONE, Baldesar.

Il libro del cortegiano.

      Venice; in casa de' figliuoli di Aldo 1547 8vo, ff. [V] 195 [VIII] Italic letter, printer's device with a frame of cherubs and cornucopiae on title and verso of last page, occasional early ms. marginalia, upper margin a little short, light age yellowing in places, a very good copy in contemporary vellum over boards. Best Aldine edition and the first to contain an index of the work that changed the manners of the courts of Europe, making them all breathe the same air of the Italian Renaissance. The intention of the work is to describe the ideal courtier. Set in 1506 in the court of Duke Guidubaldo of Urbino, where Castiglione was then living, it comprises four books in the form of a dialogue between courtiers. In the first the scene is the drawing room of Duchess Elisabetta, where the intellectuals of her suite - Bembo, Bibbiena, Ludovico of Canossa, the Fregosos, Sadoleto and Giuliano de Medici - decide the subject of the debate and identify as the most important virtue of the courtier the sprezzatura, the mastery of hiding the effort to behave as a perfect gentleman. Next a discussion about language occupies the second book, and about the importance of facezie, facetiousness: the man who is able speak in a charming ironic way shows politely his shrewdness such as Bibbiena usually did. The third book is about the education of the women of court, their beauty as an ornament of their noble setting and their philosophical essence; a sort of ars amandi for courtly life closes this section. The last part, in a more down to earth language, deals with the role and nature of the prince, who thinks of his benefit instead of that of his country; then there's the affirmation that the best courtier is the one who mostly seems to his lord and finally ends with the glorification of platonic love. Castiglione (1478-1529) was celebrated as one of the best cavaliers of the Renaissance by the most important people of the age, such as the Duchess of Urbino and Mantova, the Pope Giulio II and Leo X and the Emperor Charles V. He was an excellent knight, skilled in Latin and Greek and a wise diplomat. The Libro del Cortegiano was his best work, at whom he worked quite along all his life. BM. STC. It. p. 156 (1030 c. 6); Renouard 139:1 "Cette édition très jolie, revue avec soin, et la première qui ait un Index, me semble la meilleure que les Alde aient donnée de ce livre, tant lu autrefois, et si complètement négligé aujourd'hui, quoique ses préceptes un peu surannés n'aient cependant pas perdu entièrement leur utilité"; Adams C. 933; Brunet 1629 "L'édition aldine de 1547, in-8. de 5, 195 et 8 ff., est augmentée d'un index"; I.A.VII p.112.L668