ARETINO Pietro Il primo (sesto) libro delle lettere.
Paris, M. LeMaitre, 1609. 8vo: six volumes bound in three: medallion portrait of Aretino on the sixtitle-pages. Contemporary vellum, portion of one overlapping edge defective, ties lacking: paper lightly toned. An excellent copy in its first binding. The only collected edition of Aretino's letters, arranged chronologically. Addressed to statesmen, artists, writers and scholars they were the instruments of his continuing power in contemporary society: With his letters to the powerful of praise and condemnation he purchased friends and derived an income (Cairns).The six books appeared separately between 1537 and 1557 and, as Brunet pointed out, it would be very difficult to assemble all six first editions: this, the only complete edition, is an indispensable source for our knowledge of numerous aspects of the history of the sixteenth century.Mazzuchelli, p.234: Brunet I, 415.
£1100
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