Palazzi - Aquila Saxonica - 1673

Symbols and Blood: Dragon, Eagle and Crown, The Secret Language of Imperial Power
First Edition 1673 by Giovanni Palazzi or Joannes Palatius (1643–1712).
Two parts in one volume, a splendid illustrated book about the early German kings from the 800s to 1100 who unified the kingdoms of Germany and Italy under the Holy Roman Empire.
82 copper engravings and numerous full-page ones, height 380 x width 260.
A masterpiece of iconography that celebrates the rise and consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire under the Saxon rulers. A splendid example of Baroque illustrated historiography, the work fuses historical rigor, symbolic imagery, and figurative magnificence, in a highly prized edition dedicated to a cultured audience devoted to imperial authority.
Market value
The work is rare and highly regarded among collectors of 17th-century illustrated books: complete copies in good condition typically range from €3,000 to €6,000, with higher figures for copies in contemporaneous or richly decorated bindings. The value increases significantly if the plates are well preserved, with sharp impressions and wide margins. Copies with original binding, title page in excellent condition, and absence of invasive restorations are increasingly sought after at international auctions dedicated to Baroque visual culture and politics.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION - COLLECTRO'S COPY
In Folio: height 380 mm x width 260 mm or 14.9 x 10.3 inches. Two parts in one volume, complete edition. Pages [6], 254; 65, [1], followed by [6] for the index, followed by 1 blank sheet attached to the title page. With 1 full-page copper-engraved title page, red and black title with a large copper engraving, 1 full-page portrait of Louis XIV and 7 beautiful full-page engravings of allegories, portraits and 1 genealogical tree, plus 72 copper engravings of kings, emperors and European sovereigns in the text. An excellent contemporary calf copy, solid binding with restored joints. Some signs of wear, light stains and some flaking on the boards, but solid. Spine with 6 raised bands with gold titles on a red label and gold decorations on the compartments, marbled endpapers, red edges. A good copy of this history of the German emperors, splendidly illustrated with numerous finely engraved portraits, and dedicated to the Sun King, Louis XIV. Pages and plates are clean, occasional light spots and rare defects. Text in Latin.

Full title and author
The Saxon Eagle, under which the Saxon emperors from Henry Aucupe to Henry the Saint of the West, Emperor XV, are sculpted in relief and presented lifelike, with eulogies, hieroglyphics, coins, insignia, symbols, and ancient images, and a long series of histories written.
Venice, at Jacob Herz, 1673.
Giovanni Palazzi.

Context and Significance
The work celebrates the five Saxon emperors—from Henry I the Fowler to Henry II the Saint—who unified Germany and Italy under the aegis of the Holy Roman Empire. Palazzi narrates with erudition the wars, the dynastic alliances, the legal reforms, and the relations with the Church, enriching the narrative with a sumptuous gallery of portraits, coats of arms, coins, historical and mythological scenes. The symbolic apparatus is conceived as a true imperial initiatory journey, in which every image has allegorical value and every column piece is a micro-narrative of power. The allegory culminates in the triumphant figure of Louis XIV who tames the seven-headed dragon, symbol of evil and political disintegration: a powerful image of the imperial role as arranger of chaos and guarantor of Christian Europe’s balance. The text, of great juridical and historiographic rigor, interweaves with a visual program that reflects the Baroque culture of power, iconographic control, and the sacralization of monarchy.

Author's Biography
Giovanni Palazzi (c. 1625–1701), historian, jurist, and engraver, was a professor of canon law at the University of Padua and an advisor to Emperor Leopold I. A cultured and multifaceted figure, he united the analysis of sources with a taste for visual staging, in a approach that fused law, symbolism, and art. He was also the author of legal treatises and canonical commentaries, but Aquila Saxonica represents his most ambitious editorial undertaking, in which the figure of the emperor is framed as guarantor of universal harmony and historical continuity.

Printing history and circulation
Printed in Venice at Jacobum Herz, Aquila Saxonica, it was conceived as a high-profile celebratory work, destined for royal libraries, academic circles, and European chancelleries. The diffusion was limited but selective: copies circulated in imperial centers, among ambassadors and prelates tied to the Imperial Curia. The author's direct involvement in the design of the engravings guaranteed an extremely high level of coherence between text and image. The volume belongs to the tradition of emblem books of the Empire, alongside the works of Valvasor, Picinelli, and Menestrier.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
F. W. Sanders, Symbolic Images in Baroque Historiography, Leiden, 1999
Biographical Dictionary of Italians, subentry 'Palazzi, Giovanni'
R. Mandrella, The Iconography of Power: Louis XIV and Baroque Europe, Paris, 2008
I. Rowland, The Culture of the Book in Baroque Venice, Rome, 2012
M. Fagiolo, Baroque and Neobaroque, Rome–Bari, 2004
C. Ginzburg, Symbols, Rites and History, Turin, 2000
C. D. Eberhart, Heraldry and Imperial Identity in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 2011
OPAC ICCU – Marciana National Library; WorldCat OCLC 954326253