Segni - Storie Fiorentine - 1763

SECRET STORIES OF A REPUBLIC, OR FRENCE TOLD BY ONE WHO KNEW IT WELL
The Florentine Stories by Bernardo Segni constitute one of the most lucid and disenchanted political chronicles of Italian the XVIth century, written by an eyewitness within the power balances of the Republic of Florence at the moment of its definitive crisis. Augusta’s 1723 edition presents in solemn and typographically elegant form a text that is not mere historical narration, but a moral reflection on the fragility of republican institutions, on the violence of history, and on the illusion of civil liberty. The inclusion of the Life of Niccolò Capponi strengthens the exemplary dimension of the work, turning the chronicle into a true political theatre of virtue and failure.
MARKET VALUE
In the international market for Italian historical works of the early eighteenth century, this edition of the Storie fiorentine generally sells for a range between 700 and 1,200 euros, with significant variations tied to the state of the parchment, the freshness of the impression, and the completeness of the volume. Well-preserved folio copies, with a frontispiece printed clearly in red and black and a legible title on the spine, tend to be priced in the upper part of the range, especially if they come from historical collections or are accompanied by contemporary bindings.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary vellum-backed binding, gold title on the spine, with slight defects and signs of use. Stubs, frontispiece printed in red and black, headpieces, initials, and endpieces woodcut. Present is a folding plate with the portrait of Niccolò Capponi. Some foxing and browning. In ancient books with a centuries-long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 12mo; 384; 48mo; 42; 4mo; (2).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Storie fiorentine di messer Bernardo Segni.
Augusta, appresso David Raimondo Mertz e Gio. Jacopo Majer, 1723.
Bernardo Segni.
CONTEXt AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Storie fiorentine cover one of the most dramatic periods in Florence’s history, from the siege of 1529–1530 to the definitive establishment of the Medicean principate. Bernardo Segni writes from the inside, both as participant and as an excluded observer, with a gaze that blends chronicle accuracy and political disillusion. The text is distinguished by its attention to the internal mechanisms of power, to factions, to the ambiguities of republican virtue, and to the progressive hollowing-out of civic institutions. The Life of Niccolò Capponi, an emblematic figure of Florentine republicanism, serves as a moral counterpoint to the historical narrative: Capponi appears as a model of political integrity doomed to defeat. The Augusta edition of 1723, aimed at a cultivated European public, marks the eighteenth-century canonization of Segni as a civil historian and political moralist.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Bernardo Segni (1504–1558) was a Florentine historian, literate, and statesman. He participated in the public life of the Republic, shared its fortunes, and went into exile after the return of the Medici. His historical works are distinguished by a sober style and by the moral tension that runs through the narrative, placing him among the principal civil historians of Renaissance Italy.
PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Storie fiorentine circulated initially in manuscript form and enjoyed growing editorial fortune between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, especially outside Italy, where they were read as a paradigmatic example of the political vicissitudes of Renaissance republics. The Augusta edition of 1723, printed by Mertz and Majer, belongs to the German editorial tradition attentive to Italian historiography, characterized by solid printing, good-quality paper, and a sober yet authoritative typographic apparatus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / OPAC SBN: IT\ICCU\RMLE\000000
WorldCat
Bibliothèque nationale de France
G. Villani – M. Segni, Florentine historiographical tradition
A. Momigliano, Saggi sulla storiografia italiana
E. Garin, Politica e cultura nel Rinascimento
See you at the next auctions."