Venice, Bernardino dei Vitali, 1525.. FIRST EDITION. 8¡, nineteenth-century marbled boards (spine and corners worn), burgundy leather lettering piece (slightly chipped), gilt letter. Woodcut initials. Italic type throughout, except for title page and headings. Very occasional light foxing. Small light dampstain in outer margins of 20 leaves. Internally very good to fine; overall in good to very good condition. A few contemporary or early manuscript ink annotations. Small, neat, old ink Jesuit college ownership inscription in upper outer corner of title page. (188 ll.). *** FIRST EDITION, with a reference to Hispaniola on leaf q8v, as well as a reference to the Portuguese in India under King Manuel I, which begins on q8v and continues on to leaf r1r. This work is the most important contemporary source for the history of Venetian territory in the period 1509-1516. The Bellum Cameracense is a history of the Italian wars of 1508 to 1516, in which shifting alliances fought for control of Northern Italy. The League of the Cambrai, 1508-10, was an alliance initially formed by Pope Julius II, together with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, King Louis XII of France, King Ferdinand II of Aragn, and several Italian city-states against the Republic of Venice, with the aim of checking Venice's territorial expansion. The Republic was soon on the verge of ruin. Its army was defeated by the French at Agnadello (1509); most of the territories it had occupied were lost; and Maximilian entered Venetia. The Republic had to make concessions to the pope and to Ferdinand. The Republic emerged from the war having suffered serious losses, but by no means crushed. The League of the Cambrai gave way to the Holy League against the French. This was an alliance formed (1510-11) by Pope Julius II during the Italian Wars for the purpose of expelling Louis XII of France from Italy, thereby consolidating papal power. Venice, the Swiss cantons, Ferdinand II of Aragn, Henry VIII of England, and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I were the chief members of the league. The Swiss, who did most of the fighting, routed the French at Novara (1513), but in the same year Julius II died and the league fell apart. The French victory (1515) at Marignano reestablished the French in Lombardy. The work is dedicated to Andrea Gritti who had led a force of Venetians as proveditor and later served as commander of the Venetian forces. An Italian translation appeared in 1544. *** Adams M1518. Alden & Landis 525/11. British Museum, Pre-1601 Italian STC, p. 442. JCB I, i, 94. Cicogna 792. Short-Title Catalog of Books Printed in Italy and of Books in Italian Printed Abroad, 1501-1600, Held in Selected North American Libraries, II, 403. Not in Harrisse or Additions. Not located in Porbase. KVK (51 databases searched) locates copies in Staatliche Bibliothek Neuburg an der Donau, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mnchen, Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg; online resource at Bibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mnchen; Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preu§ischer Kulturbesitz, Frankfurt-Universittsbibliothek J. C. Senckenberg, Universittsbibliothek Marburg, Halle / Saale-Franckesche Stiftungen Bibliothek, Hannover - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek, Wolfenbttel Herzog-August-Bibliothek,
sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Universitt Wien.
