The Works of the Famous Nicholas Machiavel, Citizen and Secretary of Florence. Written originally in Italian, and from thence newly and faithfully translated into English.

MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo.

Item Number: 98678

London: Printed for John Starkey, Charles Harper, and John Amery, 1680.

Second edition in English of the works of Machiavelli, an important work of political science which includes The Prince. Folio, bound in full contemporary calf, elaborate gilt titles and tooling to the spine. Includes: The History of Florence; The Prince; The Discourses of Nicholas Machiavel, Upon the First Decade of Titus Livius; and The Art of War (this last work is incomplete in this copy). Each with a separate dated title page but pagination and register are continuous. Also includes “Nicholas Machiavel’s letter to Zanobius Buondelmontius”, which is not in fact by Machiavelli but by Henry Neville. Translation attributed to Henry Neville. Wing M128. In very good condition, contemporary name, reabacked. An exceptional example.

Although it is relatively short, Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince is the most remembered of his works and the one most responsible for bringing the word “Machiavellian” into usage as a pejorative. Although it was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it is generally agreed that it was especially innovative and is often considered to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal.