ALCIONIO, Pietro. Petri Alcyonii Medices Legatus de exsilio.
Venetiis, in aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri. Mense novembri, 1522
4to ;216x130 mm; XVIII century marbled calf with double fillets on both plates. 70 not numbered leaves, E7 and E8 blanks. Woodcut printer’s device on title page and on last page. Fine copy with wide margins and thick paper.
First edition of the best known of Alcyonius’ works. Dedicated to Cardinal Nicola Schönberg, Archbishop of Capua, it is an imagined dialogue taking place in 1512 among Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X (then papal legate, hence the title of the work), Giulio de' Medici, later Clement VII, and Lorenzo, later Duke of Urbino. The dialogue aims, with a rich series of exempla drawn particularly from classical antiquity, to demonstrate the paradox of the usefulness and appropriateness of exile. Allegedly, the author used for his work a treatise by Cicero, De Gloria, subsequently destroying the manuscript; the accusation cannot of course be proved. “We know that its author is accused of having used Cicero's treatise De Gloria and then destroying the manuscript. This case could only be judged by the discovery of another manuscript of the same treatise De Gloria, which unfortunately has been lost to us. Moreover, this accusation is the finest praise that could be given to Alcyonius' work.” (Renouard, translated).
Adams A633; Brunet I, 153; Renouard (1803), I, p. 166 n. 9; Rosa, Mario in Alcionio, Pietro su Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani; UCLA I, 187. BMC 16. Censimento 16 CNC 859.