La Coltivatione di Luigi Alamanni al Christianissimore Francesco Primo
THE MEDICI'S OWN COPY
Alamanni, Luigi. La Coltivatione di Luigi Alamanni al Christianissimore Francesco Primo. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1546. First edition.
Octavo (8 1/16” x 5 9/16”, 205mm x 143mm): *2 a–t8 u–x2 [$half signed]. 158 leaves, pp. [6] (title, blank, 3pp. dedication to Catherine de Medici, blank) foll. 2–154 [4] (3pp. printer’s dedication, blank). With an engraved printer’s device to the title-page.
Bound to style in modern paneled calf. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Author gilt to the second panel, title gilt to the third, and city and date gilt to the heel. With embossed dentelles and marbled endpapers.
Joints rubbed and split at the top of the front board. Abbreviated title and author inked to the bottom edge of the text-block (“[Coltiv.?] dell Alamanna). Medici library woodblock exlibris pasted to the verso of the title-page.
Luigi Alamanni (Alemanni; 1495–1556) was born in Florence to a father who was staunchly devoted to the Medici family. An injustice occurred — the details of which are disputed — and Alamanni joined the unsuccessful conspiracy against Giulio de’ Medici (mere political maneuvering, not to be confused with the assassination of Giulio the elder). Alamanni went into hiding in Venice following the failed plot and then fled to France after Giulio de’ Medici was elected Pope Clement VII. After the 1527 sack of Rome, Alamanni finally returned to his home to aid in governing the short-lived Republic. Back in France after the Imperial army reinstalled the Medici family in the duchy, Alamanni fell into favor with Francis I, to whom many of his works — including the present example — are lovingly devoted.
La Coltivatione is widely favored among Alamanni's later works — the poems on cultivation, agriculture, and bees contain more original material then previously printed, despite largely being an imitation of Virgil's Georgics. The political subtext of the Georgics must have struck a chord with Alamanni, as both works contrast honest, quiet rural life with the corrupt ambitions of cities and civil conflict. La Coltivatione ultimately serves as a meditation on the cost of empire, but where the mytheme in Virgil ends on a melancholic note (Orpheus and Eurydice), Alamanni revels in his patriotism and the resiliency of the human spirit.
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0110
Price: $3,600