THE PRINCE. The Translation from the Italian by Hill Thompson, with a New Preface by Irwin Edman.

First Easton Press Edition. Frontispiece illustration in colours. 8vo, bound in the publisher's original tan leather, the covers fully gilt in an all-over design, the spine with raised bands separating the compartments, the compartments fully decorated and lettered in gilt, silk doublures and endleaves, all edges gilt, silk ribbon marker. 185 pp. A pristine copy, as mint.

Edizione: first easton press edition of one of the most important political works of all time.<br> between 1498 and 1512 machiavelli served in the chancery of the florentine republic and was engaged in public duties and diplomatic missions all over italy and as far away as france and germany. in 1502 he made a visit to cesare borgia, who was then attempting to strengthen his army by removing its disaffected captains. machiavelli developed an admiration for the methods of the prince, who was both bold and prudent, cruel, self-reliant, and distrustful of others. when the soderini government, whom machiavelli, served, fell and machiavelli fell into disgrace, he found plenty of time in which to organize his thoughts on the subject and compose this work.<br> the prince exerted a far reaching influence across disciplines and across nations. a manuscript copy found its way to england with henry viii’s agent, thomas cromwell and its influence was great. the works of shakespeare and marlowe abound with references to the author. but the first printing and translation in english was not until 1640 when the episcopal censorship broke down’ (100 banned books, 128). by 1643, censorship in england was again fully in force (the protest of which was the subject of milton’s areopagitica) and it would be over twenty years before the next issuance of the prince in english. cromwell ìadapted its principles to the government.’ (books that changed the world, 26) napoleon annotated a copy, louis xiv, henry iii and henry iv of france all read and used he work. <br> "(thus,) the prince is far more than a book of directions to any one of the many italian princelings. machiavelli had profited by his journeys to france and germany to make the most able analyses (in his reports to his government) of a national government, and he now wrote for the guidance of the ruler by whom alone italy, desperately divided, could be restored to political health. hitherto political speculation had tended to be a rhetorical exercise based on the implicit assumption of church or empire. machiavelli founded the science of modern politics on the study of mankind. politics was a science to be divorced entirely from ethics, and nothing must stand in the way of its machinery. his concept of the qualities demanded from a ruler and the absolute need of a national militia came to fruition in the monarchies of the seventeenth century and their national armies" (pmm 63).