Francesco Patrizi of Siena
[De Institutione Reipublicae Libri Novem, in French)]
Livre tres fructueux & utile a toutes personnes
de l'institution & administration de la chose publicque
Paris: [Nicolas Cousteau for] François Regnault, 2 June 1534.
Price: $6,400
Text in French. Illustrated with 10 superb woodcuts (all but one of near full-page size) and a fine printer's device on title page.
Second extant edition in French: the French translation of this important work was first printed in 1520 by Pierre Vidoué for Galliot du Pré (of the 1528 Regnault edition mentioned in Moreau vol.III no.1579, no copies have survived).
Exceedingly rare. USTC records only 2 (!) copies worldwide of this issue (and 4 of another 1534 issue with Jean de La Garde imprint on title).
"Magnifique impression gothique de François Regnault." (Bridel)
De Institutione Reipublicae is a fascinating and very influential work on various aspects of municipal administration by Francesco Patrizi of Siena (1413 - 1494), a prominent Italian political writer, humanist, and a personal friend of pope Pius II, who appointed him bishop of Gaeta in 1461. In 1460s Patrizi also acted as governor of Foligno, then in the Papal States.
"Patrizi is important as a precursor of Machiavelli" (Mortimer); his writings on government exercised great influence on the ideas of civic Humanism, and have been proven to have served as models for Thomas Elyot's Governor (1531).
This well-known Renaissance treatise on political economy and governance of a city was written ca.1465, but first printed in 1518 in Latin under the title De Institutione Reipublicae Libri Novem (the 1494 edition cited by some bibliographers is almost certainly a ghost; in any case, no copies of it are now in existence). The work deals with all aspects of government administration, moral and civil law, economy and commerce, city planning and architecture, as well as culture (art, music, theatre, literature, libraries), science and medicine, and the military.
This French edition is dedicated to Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1490 - 1527), the Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne, a French military leader, who commanded the Imperial troops in what became known as the Sack of Rome in 1527 (where he was killed). Following the dedication (leaf ⚜3r,v) is a prologue by Patrizi, addressed to the Senate of Siena (leaves ⚜3v-4r), accompanied by a woodcut that shows the author speaking before the Senate.
The other fine woodcuts illustrating this French edition contain a rich repertoire of charming, well-rendered and fairly detailed scenes of daily life in an early 16th-century French city, and include representations of a hunt, a banquet, a card game, a battle, etc, as well as various professions such as a goldsmith, a shoemaker, a carpenter, an armorer, a merchant, a lawyer, etc. Perhaps the most pleasing illustration is the one offering a peaceful view of a city built on a hill, with all kinds of animals sporting serenely in front of its walls (at opening of Book VII). The woodcut at opening of Book I shows a king surrounded by courtiers, with a battle scene on top.
Through this translation Patrizi's De Reipublicae became popular and widely disseminated in France in the early sixteenth century, but, curiously, not in his native Italy: the first Italian edition did not appear until 1545. (Note that an abridged English translation by Richard Robinson appeared in London in 1572.)
Born in Siena, Patrizi studied alongside Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II, and entertained friendships with many prominent italian humanists. He played an active part in the political life in his native city and served as ambassador to Florence, Rimini, Emperor Frederick III and the Holy See. Implicated in a charge of treason, he was imprisoned, tortured and then exiled. He took on ecclesiastic robes and, when Piccolomini became pope, was pardoned and made Bishop of Gaeta in 1461.
Patrizi was "a man of wide interests and broad attainments [who] has never been studied comprehensively" (Schmitt). His two chief works on political matters are the De institutione reipublicae, and its counterpart on monarchy, De regno et Regis institutione (written between 1481 and 1484). His political works demonstrate the encyclopedic scope of his studies and interests, covering the arts, sciences, agriculture, commerce, architecture and town planning, gymnastics, horse-riding and hunting, games and theater. Throughout, Patrizi's approach is practical, investigating the effects these pursuits have on the citizens and rulers of a state, and how they can be employed to maximize the public good.
Patrizi's individualism is tempered by a strong social conscience. He recommends protection for merchants and tradesmen who contribute to the enrichment of a country, and he believed that the state should provide the means of subsistence to the population. He attacks usury and defends the "middle class," as well as servants, whom he writes one should not regard as slaves. His pragmatic approach leads to arguments that appear to be well ahead of their time, such as his defense of the right to abortion and contraception. According to Felice Battaglia, Patrizi's ideas are "typical of the passage from the transcendental medieval world to the naturalism and voluntarism of the Renaissance. Patrizi announces Macchiavelli in many points, who will be better understood when his precedents are illuminated." (see F. Battaglia, Enea Silvio Piccolomini e Francesco Patrizi, p.x)
Small Folio; leaves measure 256 mm x 175 mm. Bound in a mid-20th-century polished calf, blind-ruled with geometric patterns in period style; spine with raised bands, and with author's name blind-stamped in second compartment. Edges mottled.
Foliation: [4], cxxx ff. (forming 268 pages).
Signatures: ⚜4 A-X6 y4.
Collated and COMPLETE.
Text printed in single column, in lettre batarde throughout, headlines in a larger gothic type; numerous decorative woodcut initials, mostly with floral and foliate motifs.
Title page printed in red and black, with a 'grotesque face' initial 'L' and with Regnault's large woodcut 'elephant' device. Ten woodcut illustrations in text, including one half-page cut on ⚜3v showing the author addressing the Senate of Siena, and nine large (almost full-page) illustrations (one at opening of each of the work's nine 'books'), including two repetitions (the block from leaf M6v used again on R6v and T5v).
Preliminaries include La Table (Table of Contents) on leaves ⚜1v-⚜3r, dedication (by the translator) to to Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (leaf ⚜3r,v), a prologue by Patrizi, addressed to the Senate of Siena (leaves ⚜3v-4r).
Colophon on leaf y4v.
Good antiquarian condition. Complete. Title (⚜1) and the final leaf (y4) with old stamps effaced resulting in abrasions, repaired without loss (except for one word of the table of contents affected on verso of title), title page also with another neat repair to outer margin (without loss). A single small wormhole through the textblock, not affecting legibility, and a few more small wormholes towards the end of the volume (some marginal, some in printed area), catching individual letters, but, without loss of legibility. Occasional light, unobtrusive water-staining (mostly marginal). Two facing pages (C6v and D1r) with moderate soiling and a small tear to bottom margin of D1, not affecting text; occasional light soiling elsewhere and a few small ink-spots. Small faded ink markings (signature?) in an early hand to inner margin of title-page. Binding slightly rubbed, partially faded; front-pastedown with a Belgian bookseller's stamp and a catalogue clipping pasted on. Generally, a solid, clean and respectable example of this exceedingly rare and important work.
Renouard, ICP, IV, 1105; Brunet, Supplément II, p.179; Panzer VIII, 2364; Hennin, Les monuments de l'histoire de France, Vol. VIII, p.155; Blanc, Bibliographie italico-française, p.1495 (erroneously giving the date as 1532).
