Lettere di principi, le quali ò si scrivono da principi, ò à principi, ò ragionan di principi [...]. In questa seconda edizione tutto riordinato, & migliorato [...].

3 vol., 4to: [8]-230, [6]-257-[1], [8]-284 ff. (foxing and soiling, marg. worm hole or track in vol. I-II, some quires +/- sl. browned - esp. in vol. II -, marg. damp stains in vol. I and III, sl. dampstaining in vol. II, vol. II cut short shaving running titles, occ. ink stains).

17th-c. vellum, ink-titled flat spines, blue edges.

Second edition of this collection of letters gathered since 1562 and edited by Girolamo Ruscelli (1581-1566), mathematician and astronomer, translator of Ptolemy, founder in 1541 of the Accademia dello Sdegno. Letters from and to: Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis of Vasto, to Paolo Giovio, Aradin Bassà (Kair ad-Din Barbarossa) to Giovanni Matteo Bembo, Bernardo Bibiena to Giuliano de' Medici, Charles V to Clement VII, François I to Clement VII, Piero Macchiavelli to Cosimo I de' Medici, etc. Among all these, the letter dated 20 January 1543, by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1478-1557), known as Oviedo, Spanish historian and soldier who participated in the colonization of the West Indies, to the scholar and cardinal Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) about the recent discoveries made by Francisco de Orellana, first European to descend the Amazon river to its mouth during 8 months in 1541 on an expedition started by Pizzarro with the goal to find the mythical El Dorado (vol. I, pp. 149-152). It "forms an interesting contemporary account of the progress and successes of the Spaniards in Peru" (Sabin). With ms. marginalia in Italian in vol. III. Woodcut printer's mark on titles and at end of vol. I and II.
Ref. EDIT16 41039, 78484 & 16617. - Sabin 40563. - STC Italian 376 (vol. II and cp. for the 2 other vol.). - Adams L-563 (vol. II) and cp. for vol. I (1573 ed.) and vol. III (1577 ed.). - Cp. Gamba 1470 (1581 ed., "Raccolta pregevolissima").