25
●
CASTIGLIONE, BALDASSARE.
Il Libro del Cortegiano.
[122]
leaves, includ-
ing final leaf with Aldine device on verso. Folio, 288x188 mm, 20th-century brown
morocco gilt-tooled to panel design; light soiling on title and last page.
(
Venice: House of Aldus and Andrea of Asola, April 1528)
[10,000/15,000]
FIRST EDITION OF THE PROTOTYPICAL COURTESY BOOK
,
presented in the form of a ficti-
tious dialogue on etiquette and conduct set at the court of Urbino. “ ‘The Courtier’ depicts the
ideal aristocrat, and it has remained the perfect definition of a gentleman ever since. It is an
epitome of the highest moral and social ideas of the Italian Renaissance, many of them inspired
by classical examples . . . The book was translated into most European languages and between
1528
and 1616 no less than one hundred and eight editions were published . . . its most
potent influence was probably in England. In 1561 Sir Thomas Hoby published an English
translation which became one of the most popular books of the Elizabethan age”—Printing
and the Mind of Man 59. Renouard, page 105(3); New UCLA 252; Gamba 294. From the
library of the art historian Kenneth Clark, Lord Clark of Saltwood (1903-83), with his bookplate.
