Add MS 8352

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION of relazioni and other historical papers relating to Persia, Spain, France, Rome and Florence; circa 1537-1666. Italian and Latin. Copies. Table of contents (f. 1). Old signature in pencil 'Tom. CXI' in upper right corner of f. i: identifiable with Mattei MS. 555 (vol. 111 of 'Materie diverse') in Guilford's catalogue Add. 8220, f. 24v. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '107' in pencil in upper left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8333, 8334, 8335, 8336, 8337, 8342, 8345, 8348, 8349-8351, 8360, and 8812, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 107 (part).

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-113. 'Relatione delle conditioni di Abbàs Re di Persia / Historia Persiana di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino', relazione of Persia by the Roman traveller and man of letters Pietro della Valle, called 'Il Pellegrino' (1586-1652); circa 1628. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 3) 'Prima Parte della Conditioni lodevoli / Havendo io fatto dimora'. Text divided into three parts (ff. 2, 50, 61). Marked '123' in ink in upper left corner of f. 2. Published as Delle conditioni di Abbàs Re di Persia / All'Illustrissimo ... signor Francesco Cardinale Barberino ... Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino in Venice in 1628, it was included by the Inquisition in the Index of Prohibited Books; B.L. copies 583.d.13.(1) and G.6758. For della Valle and his works see DBI, 37 (1989), pp. 765-771; also I viaggi di Pietro Della Valle. Lettere dalla Persia, ed. by F. Gaeta and L. Lockhart, vol. i (Rome, 1972), mentioning the present work on p. xxi n. 2; D. Perocco, Viaggiare e raccontare. Narrazione di viaggo ed esperienze di racconto tra Cinque e Seicento (Alessandria, 1997), pp. 8-9, 27-33, 43.

2. ff. 114-183. 'Philipiche di Traiano Boccalini', three satirical orations against Philip III of Spain published during the first Monferrato war, attributed here to Traiano Boccalini (1556?-1613), but generally assigned to Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635); circa 1615. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 115) 'Filippica Prima / E fino a che segno sopportaremo'; inc. (f. 137) 'Filippica 2da / Hor che diranno i Politici di Roma'; inc. (f. 155v) 'Filippica terza / Ancora doppo la pace noi siamo in guerra'. Another copy of the first two orations in Add. 16480, ff. 261-289v; the two orations were published around 1615 as Filippica I and Filippica II without imprints, B.L. copies 176.d.4, G.6369, C.76.c.11.(2), and 1057.h.9.(8).

3. ff. 184-229. 'L'Idea del Favorito / Discorso d'Ascanio Filomarino, hoggi Cardinale di Santa Chiesa', political treatise on how to gain the favour of princes attributed here to Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino, Archbishop of Naples; n.d. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 185) 'Perchè sono stati, o sono quegli, che habbiano saputo'. Text divided into three chapters. The title suggests that the text was written before the election of Filomarino as cardinal in 1666.

4. ff. 230-266v. 'Trattato delle usurpationi fatte dalli Re di Spagna sopra la Corona di Francia dal regno di Carlo Ottavo fino a i tempi nostri', political treatise against Spain, offered to Louis XIII of France; before 1643. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Sire / La pace è un bene incomparabile'. Mentioning Louis XIII's nickname 'Il Giusto' (f. 231). Another copy in Add. 8729, art. 1, ff. 2-39v.

5. ff. 267-274v. 'Fragmento cavato dall'Historie manuscritte di Benedetto Varchi', extract from the Storia Fiorentina of Benedetto Varchi relating to Pierluigi Farnese (1503-1547), son of Pope Paul III, Duke of Castro and Gonfaloniere of the Church, and to the death of the Bishop of Fano, Cosimo Gheri, on 22 Sept. 1537; [1537]. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 268) 'In questo anno presente nacque un caso'. Another copy, dated 1550, in Add. 48154 (Yelverton MS. 165), art. 7, ff. 243-245. Cf. Storia Fiorentina, ed. by L. Arbib, vol. iii (Florence, 1838-1841), pp. 337-342.

6. ff. 275-282. 'Medicee Magnae familiae compendiosa Series collecta', short history of the Medici family from Averardo to Grand Duke Ferdinando I of Tuscany; before 1609. Latin. Copy. Inc. (f. 276) 'Averardus Medices a quo Joannes processit'; inc. (f. 281) 'Compendium ieusdem familiae per breve / Cosmus Senior qui et Pater Patriae ex meritis est appellatus'.

Paper; ff. 282+xix, plus two unfoliated blanks after ff. 49, 113, 183, 229, and three after f. 266. Old foliation in ink '1-280' (ff. 2-281). 255 x 188mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Several Italian hands. 17th-cent. Italian binding of full vellum.