Correspondency by Adriano Politi, 1624, copy of 1st edition with prominent double Florentine provenance

Adriano Politi: Lettere del signor Adriano Politi. Con un breve discorso della vera denominatione della lingua volgare usata da' buoni scrittori. Title-page with illustrated printer's woodcut device, as well as several illustrated woodcut initial capitals. Venice: Antonio Pinelli, 1624.

8vo (15,5:10,5 cm). [16] 464 pages. Woodcut and letterpress, bound in contemporary flexible vellum with hand-written title on spine label.

First edition of a collection of correspondency by Italian philologist and classical scholar Adriano Politi (1542-1625), this copy with prominent double Florentine provenance.

Contents: „In 1624, a collection of Letters was published in Venice (A. Pinelli) in two sections, the first of letters 'written in the name of Cardinal San Giorgio his [Politi's] master', the second of letters 'written in his own name'. In the latter, a range of prominent correspondents emerges: in addition to the aforementioned Bulgarini, Bargagli and Tassoni, the names of Bartolomeo Zucchi, Filippo Massini and Ascanio Piccolomini, among others, are noted.“ (Cf. Riga) Politi, a secretary to several Cardinals, is widely known for his Italian translation of Tacitus.

Provenance: This copy is of exquisite double Florentine provenance: (1) Gustavo Camillo Galetti (1805-68), with his crowned stamp „Bibl. Gust. C. Galletti Flor.“ on the title page. (2) After Galetti's death the major part of his extensive library came into possession of the banker Horace de Landau (1824-1903), whose book-plate with ligated monogram on the front paste-down.

Rarity: Although well present in institutional holdings, the book was and is hard to find in trade. RBH quotes no records at all.

Condition: Pages 177-320 partly with water stains and foxy, fly leaves missing, generally a solid copy.

Reference: Pietro Giulio Riga: "Politi, Adriano". In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 84 (2015). Consulte online on 05 February 2023 <https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/adriano-politi_(Dizionario-Biografico)>