CASTIGLIONE, Baldassare (1478-1529). The Courtier ... Verie necessarie and profitable for young Gentlemen and Gentlewomen abiding in Court, Pallace, or Place, done into English by Thomas Hobby. London: John Wolfe 1588. 8° (186 x 135mm). Woodcut borders on title-page and contents leaf, woodcut headpieces and initials. (Light soiling to title-page, two headlines just shaved). Early 20th-century dark brown morocco, stet for William Brown bookseller, Edinburgh, turn-ins and edges gilt. Provenance: Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners). FIRST POLYGLOT EDITION of this monument of Elizabethan prose, epitomising the highest ideals of the Italian Renaissance, with English, Italian, and French text in parallel columns. Castiglione's guide to gentlemanly perfection had wide influence throughout Europe, but nowhere more so than in England. Hoby's translation, first published 1561, was one of the most popular books of the Elizabethan age; it 'left a profound mark on Elizabethan literary and stylistic practice, and Hoby's elegantly sober style was to influence Royal Society prose' (DNB). Its lasting influence is evident in Shakespeare, Robert Burton, Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, and Spenser. ESTC S122049; cf. PMM 59; STC 4781.
CASTIGLIONE, Baldassare (1478-1529). The Courtier ... Verie necessarie and profitable for young Gentlemen and Gentlewomen abiding in Court, Pallace, or Place, done into English by Thomas Hobby. London: John Wolfe 1588. 8° (186 x 135mm). Woodcut borders on title-page and contents leaf, woodcut headpieces and initials. (Light soiling to title-page, two headlines just shaved). Early 20th-century dark brown morocco, stet for William Brown bookseller, Edinburgh, turn-ins and edges gilt. Provenance: Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners). FIRST POLYGLOT EDITION of this monument of Elizabethan prose, epitomising the highest ideals of the Italian Renaissance, with English, Italian, and French text in parallel columns. Castiglione's guide to gentlemanly perfection had wide influence throughout Europe, but nowhere more so than in England. Hoby's translation, first published 1561, was one of the most popular books of the Elizabethan age; it 'left a profound mark on Elizabethan literary and stylistic practice, and Hoby's elegantly sober style was to influence Royal Society prose' (DNB). Its lasting influence is evident in Shakespeare, Robert Burton, Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, and Spenser. ESTC S122049; cf. PMM 59; STC 4781.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
