La prima parte delle Historie del svo tempo di Mons Paolo Giovio Vescovo di Nocera. Tradotte per M. Lodouico Dominichi. Aggivntoni di Nvovo I sommarii di quanto si contiene nelle historie, con la sua Tauola copiosissima

In Venegia, appresso Dominico de' Farri, M. D. LV. (1555), 1555. Very Good. [44], [1114, marked] 557, [1] pp. ; contemporary vellum with five raised bands ; spine marked in italic script, "Historie del Giovio Tom. I" ; Signatures: ABC,a-z,aa-zz,aaa-zzz,aaaa ; Title vignette, repeated on verso on last leaf ; Initials ; Ital ic type. ; OCLC: 26248172, OCLC: 17611061 ; page 144 (and its verso) in contemporary Italic manuscript hand, inserted and bound in the original binding ; the number, "13" inscribed on a small round label on the spine ; the number "136" written on th e upper textblock ; covers soiled ; a few worm-holes on the first three and last three pages ; last page of the Tavola starting ;This, the first Italian translation--five years after the first Florence Latin in 1550--of the massive History of His Own Times by Paolo Giovio, who set up what has been compared to the CNN of his time; Utilizing a prodigious, ongoing correspondence with writers across Europe and the Near East, Giovio was able to keep abreast of developing events, and by interviewing primary sources, including heads of state, was able to describe many of the behind-the-scenes workings of governments and to provide details of historic events ; at his estate beside Lake Como, he was able to amass a collection of paintings depicting the famous of Europe and beyond, often employing the great contemporary artists to paint the subjects from life ; The publisher, Ludovico Domenichi of Piacenza, was a proofreader and corrector who had come to Florence from the printer Gioliti in Venice on recommendation of Aretino, working first for Doni and then Torrentino, preparing translations into Italian of Giovio's Latin works (among others) ; Giovio developed a deep friendship with Dominichi, as the two shared an amicable personality, and Giovio approved his translations, even musing that Dominichi's Italian translations were destined to become more popular than his original Latin, since they could be read by a far greater readership ; It may have been Giovio's friendship that prevented Dominichi from a suffering a fatal prison sentence when he was denounced by Doni to the Inquisition after an argument, as having published a heretical work, Calvin's letter to the Nicodemites, and sentenced to 10 years ; from February to August of 1551, he was imprisoned in Pisa and in Florence, but the Duke then commuted the sentence to a year seclusion in the convent of Santa Maria Novella ; In January 1553 he was allowed be absent at night in order to complete this translation ; later, Dominichi accidentally damaged his friend's reputation posthumously upon the publication in 1560 of several of Giovio's letters that revealed his vain qualities ; Contains Books I-4, 11-18, covering the periods 1494-1498 and 1513-1518 ; summaries of what was to be contained in Books 5-10 is provided in "Epistomi" ; a detailed index or "Tavola" of subjects is at front ; only 4 copies of this edition held in libraries worldwide ; a rare and important work Renaissance Italy ; VG