Statuti dell’Ordine De’ Cavalieri di S.to Stefano.

DE'MEDICI, Cosimo II.

$2,500.00

Item Number: 140375

Florence: Pietro Cecconcelli, 1620.

Rare early 17th century printing of the Statutes of the The Order of Saint Stephen; founded by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1561. Octavo, bound in full contemporary vellum, engraved title page by Jacques Callot, engraved portrait of Cosimo II de Medici, printer’s woodcut vignette on colophon, woodcut initials. From the library of Italian editor and bibliophile Gustavo Camillo Galletti with his small library stamp. In very good condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

The Order of Saint Stephen was established by Cosimo I de Medici in 1561 as a military order of knighthood, with the first known published statutes issued in 1571. The objective of the order was to fight the Ottoman Turks and the pirates that sailed Mediterranean Sea in the 16th century, both of whom were making dangerous inroads on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea where Cosimo had recently inaugurated the new port of Livorno. In its early years, the Order took part successfully in the Spanish wars against the Ottomans, being present at the siege of Malta (1565), the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the 1607 capture of Annaba in Algeria by the then admiral Jacopo Inghirami. This edition, dedicated to the Order's Grand Master, Cosimo II, featured Callot's triumphal engraved title with the Medici coat of arms.