Historia della guerra fra Turchi, et Persiani, di Gio. Thomaso Minadoi da Rovigo, divisa in libri nove. Nella quale chiaramente si scuoprono la causa, I progressi, e tutti gli accidenti, e fattioni in quella avvenuti. Con una descrittone di tutte le cose pertinenti alla religione, alle forze, al governo, & al paese del Regno de Persiani…

Venice: Andrea Muschio & Barezzo Barezzi, 1594. Hardcover. See Description. 4to. pp. [32], 383, [25]. With a 2 page engraved map. Text is printed in Italic type with decorative woodcut initials and head and tail pieces. Bound in modern quarter leather over 19th century marbled boards. Remnants of an early spine label are preserved. End papers are renewed in quality laid paper. Interior pages are generally clean but show occasional light toning, wear and scattered spotting/staining. The title page contains mild discoloration; the inner margin is neatly strengthened (hardly noticeable); M. Maturin’s name is written in a miniscule hand on the upper margin. The map reveals mild spots of discoloration; a small chip and a neatly sealed tear (1 cm) are present on the outer margin; another sealed tear (2.5 cm) on the lower edge is accompanied by a couple tiny worm holes slightly affecting the printed border area. Giovanni Tommaso Minadoi (1545-1618) served as personal physician to Teodoro Balbi, the Venetian consul in Syria. While in Aleppo, Minadoi witnessed the outbreak of the Ottoman-Safavid War (1578-90) fought between the Turkish Sultan Murad III and the Persian Shah Mohammad Hodabanda the Blind. His book recounting the conflict (first published in Rome, 1587 and again in 1588) also records many interesting details of Persian culture (See Dizionario Biografico, Vol. 74, 2010). [Adams M-1456; Edit16: CNCE 31430]. Provenance: an earlier front paste-down is retained with the armorial bookplate of Maturin L. Delafield, a merchant from a respected New York family. According to "The N.Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record" Vol. 47, Delafield did confidential work for Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet during the Civil War. Above the plate, a much faded note in pencil concerning G. Minadoi is attributed (by another penciled note) to Major Joseph Delafield (Maturin’s father). Joseph Delafield served in the War of 1812.