the Politics of Art
CIMARELLI, Vicenzo Maria. Istorie dello Stato d'Urbino da' Senoni detta Umbria Senonia e de lor gran fatti in Italia, delle città, e luochi che in essa al presente si trovano, di quelle che distrutte gia furono famose et di Corinalto che dalle ceneri di Suasa hebbe l'origine. Brescia: Heredi di Bartholameo Fontana. 1642 [Colophon: per gli Sabbi, stampatori episcopali, 1643.]
4to. Near-contemporary full vellum with two gilt-stamped red morocco lettering-pieces to spine; pp. 16, [24], 184, 184, engraved allegorical title (in pagination); lettering-pieces a little chipped; occasional browning and spotting, but generally very good; 'N. W. Peach' to front free endpaper; armorial bookplate of Sir John P. Boileau to front pastedown (see below).
First edition, very rare, with the colophon dated 1643.
Vincenzo Maria Cimarelli (1585-1662) was a naturalist, local historian, Dominican friar, and inquisitor of the Holy Office from Corinaldo, near Ancona. His Istorie dello Stato d'Urbino are a later but important source on one of the most important patrons of early Renaisance art and architecture in Italy, Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and his connections with artists such as Piero della Francesca, the political theorist Macchiavelli, or the architect Leon Battista Alberti.
Provenance: From the library of Sir John Peter Boileau, first Baronet (1794-1869), archaeologist and member of several antiquarian, archaeological and historical societies.
Brunet II, 69; Lozzi II, 5729: 'opera curiosa e rara'.
Very rare: Library Hub locates two copies only, in the V&A and in the National Library of Scotland.
#2101426