BENEDETTO VARCHI: ISTORIA FIORENTINA

MS 298
MS Short Title BENEDETTO VARCHI: ISTORIA FIORENTINA
Text BENEDETTO VARCHI: ISTORIA FIORENTINA COMINCIATA DALL' ANNO 1527 TOM I-II. LIBRO 1 - 16. ALL' ILLUSTRISSIMO ET ECCELLENTISSIMO SIGNORE COSIMO MEDICI DUCA 2. DI FIRENZE ET SIENA
Description MS in Italian on paper, Roma, Italy, ca. 1650-1680, 2 vols., 516 +522 ff. + 35+32 blanks (complete), 31x21 cm and 29x21 cm, single column, (24x13 cm - 25x14 cm), 25-31 lines in Italian cursive script, title in square capitals, by 1 scribe, pen flourishes beneath some chapter ends.
Binding Roma, Italy, ca. 1650-1680, vellum over pasteboard, sewn on 5 thongs, title in brown ink on spine.
Context Vol. 31-32 of the 257 numbered vols, MSS 269-525, from Biblioteca Mattei (103 vols.), and other cardinals' family libraries, possibly including the Barberini or Chigi collections, now in the Vatican Library. The MSS are mostly copied from the Papal State archives, and contain partly unpublished and highly important source material of the history of Europe mainly 1540-1650. By the same scribe as MSS 283, 297, 326, 433, 504.
Provenance 1. Bibliotheca Mattei, Roma (late 17th c. -); 2. Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (ca. 1810-1827); 3. R.H. Evans, London 8.12.1830:508; 4. Sir Thomas Phillipps, Cheltenham, Ph 6016 & 6019, (1830-1872); 5. Katharine, John, Thomas & Alan Fenwick, Cheltenham, (1872-1946); 6. Robinson Bros., London (1946-1978); 7. Kraus list 203(1980): 313.
Commentary An extremely detailed history of Florence which Varchi had originally planned to cover the last years of the Florentine republic (1527-1530), but which he later extended to 1538, covering the rule of Duke Alessandro and the first year of the reign of Cosimo I. It is an excellent example of 16th-century historiography being based upon original source documents which Cosimo had made available to Varchi. The history was not published until 1721 and in the interim circulated in manuscript copies.
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Place of origin Italy
Dates ca 1650 - 1680 AD