The Works of the Famous Nicolas Machiavel, Citizen and Secretary of Florence: The History of Florence; The Prince; The Discourses of Nicholas Machiavel; The Art of War In Seven Books.

MACHIAVEL, Nicolas. [Niccolo Machiavelli].

$8,800.00

Item Number: 148533

London: John Starkey at the Miter in Fleetstreet, near Temple-Bar, 1675.

First edition in English of the most important writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, widely considered the foundation of the modern study of politics. Includes The History of Florence, The Prince, Discourses on Livy, and The Art of War. Folio bound in three quarter modern calf over marbled boards with gilt-lettered morocco spine label, modern endpapers but retaining early binder’s flyleaves, engraved ornamental initials, headpieces. Without the general title, frontispiece or ads sometimes encountered. Included is “Nicholas Machiavel’s Letter to Zanobius Buondelmontius in Vindication of Himself and His Writings,” which was in fact authored by Henry Neville, the translator of this edition. There are two issues of this work in 1675: one with the general title page imprint, “Printed for John Starkey” (this copy), and another, “Printed for J.S.” Separate title pages for The History of Florence, The Prince, The Discourses, and The Art of War (as issued). French inscription to the front binder’s flyleaf, marginal toning and spotting throughout, toning to the spine. In very good condition. A very sharp example.

“Machiavelli founded the science of modern politics on the study of mankind… Politics was a science to be divorced entirely from ethics, and nothing must stand in the way of its machinery” (PMM 63). “Machiavelli is a popular symbol for the… completely unprincipled, and unscrupulous politician whose whole philosophy is that the end justifies the means. The highest law to Machiavelli, it is universally believed, was political expediency… From a comparative reading of [Discourses and The Prince], one must come to the startling conclusion that Machiavelli was a convinced republican. He had no liking for despotism, and considered a combination of popular and monarchical government best. No ruler was safe without the favor of his people. The most stable states are those ruled by princes checked by constitutional limitations… His ideal government was the old Roman republic, and he constantly harked back to it in the Discourses… It is hardly disputable that no man previous to Karl Marx has had as revolutionary an impact on political thought as Machiavelli” (Downs, 12). “He more than any other political thinker created the meaning that has been attached to the state in modern political usage” (Sabine 351).