Descrizione

First English edition, 8vo (200 x 120 mm), lvi, 492, [4] pp., engraved portrait frontispiece of De Witt, with the half-title on the recto, light damp-staining on lower margins of the first 8 leaves, with the 2 blank leaves at end, contemporary panelled calf, some light cracking to upper joint, spine gilt in compartments, lightly chipped at head and tail of spine, red morocco label, a very good copy. This work is a translation of Courtís ìAanwissing der heilsams politike Gronden en Maximen van de Republike van Hollandî, of 1699, which is in turn is an unauthorised revision and enlargement of his ìInterest van Holland.î of 1662. This translation wrongly attributes the work to Johan de Witt. The work had been circulated in manuscript and was published, without de la Court's permission, by de Witt ìwithout doubt one of the greatest, if not the greatest statesman of his ageî- Palgrave. Provenance: From the library of the Earls of Macclesfield with the libraries neat blind-stamp, and the South Library bookplate (1860). Einaudi, 1370; Goldsmith, 3864; Kress, 2344