Donati Iannotii Florentini (1492-1573) Italian, Latin Text about Venice 1631 Edition. 

Size: 4 1/2 X 2 1/2 X 2 in. 

This book is titled Dialogi de Repub Venetorum, or Dialogue about the Republic of Venice, written by Donati Iannotii Florentini in 1631. It was originally published in 1540 and was one of the best sources for the history of Venice through the mid-1500’s. Donati Iannotii, or Donato Giannotti (1492 - 1573), was an Italian political writer and playwright from Florence who led the short-lived Florentine Republic of 1527. He wrote theoretical works on republicanism, and after the Medicis returned to power, he was exiled and died in Rome. The book has vellum covers, three raised bands and the title inscribed at the top of the spine, blank endpapers, the title page is engraved with the Venetian lion, the book was published by Elzevir - Elzeveriana  -  in 1631, and it’s a study of the institutions of the Venetian Republic by Giannotti. The book is divided into three sections, according to the Contents page - “hoc libro continentur” means “this book contains” - and the first part is about the Republic of Venice itself, then notes by Giannotti, and the last part is about the forms of government in Venice,  and it was written with the hope of establishing a similar, representative form of government in Florence. (The date at the bottom of the title page has reversed C’s, so it is probably a combination of medieval and Roman numerals.) There is a one-page list of illustrations (“figurae his locus inferendae”) just before the first page of the text, all the plates and fold-out illustrations are present, including a fold-out of a bridge on page 323, there are 506 pages of text plus notes, all in Latin, and there is an 18-page Index Rerum et Verborum at the end. Elzevir - Elzeveriana - was the name of a family of Dutch booksellers, publishers, and printers of the 17th and early 18th centuries, and they worked out of Lugdunum Batavorum - present -day Leiden in Holland; that is what Lugd. Batav. means on the title page. The book measures 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches wide and is in great shape for its age. The binding is tight, the pages and text are clean, all the fold-out illustrations are present and in very good condition - they are clean and two have minor wrinkles at the folds - and there is light soiling and a couple of small pinholes on the spine of the vellum covers, and the book has been remarkably well preserved. The book is rare - we only found two copies of this title published by Elzevir in 1631 on the rare book website we use - and they go for $548 and $750.