Antonio Maria Gratiano - De Casibus virorum illustrium - 1680

Antonio Maria Gratiano. De Casibus virorum illustrium. Lutetiae [Paris], Antonium Cellier, 1680, (4), 411 pp., (6) ff.

A vol. in-4 (255x190 mm), full calf, spine with gold tooling, speckled edges (binding of the period). Wear and rubbing on covers and spine, losses to the headpieces, worn corners. Interior fresh, without foxing.

Original edition

Collection of nineteen stories devoted to the falls of contemporary figures, from the late 15th to the late 16th century. Graziani aims to recount the tragic end of illustrious men of his time to show the fragility of human greatness.

The portraits are drawn from the history of three countries: Italy (the Borgia, the Aragonese kings of Naples, Ludovico Sforza, Pietro de’ Medici, Savonarola, Alessandro de’ Medici), England (Henry VIII, Wolsey, Fisher and More, Pole, Mary, Dudley, “four queens of Brittany”) and France (Henry II, the Guises, Henry III), with Jean de Leyde, king of the Anabaptists, and the Carafa on the margin.