Zignago - Ordini Militari - 1722

SERENISSIMA REPUBLIC OF GENOA: THE ORDINANCES OF COLONEL ZIGNAGO
Important normative collection concerning the organization, discipline and functioning of the troops of the Serenissima Republic of Genoa, in the 1722 reprint edited by Colonel Lorenzo Maria Zignago. The work collects the ordinances established and decreed by the Military Magistrate and approved by the Serenissimi Colleges with decree of 22 January 1722, including provisions on recruitment, discipline, training, evolutions, use of arms, the obligations of officers, penalties and the governance of forts and fortresses. It is the revision and updating of the ordinances originally printed in 1710. A rare testimony to the progressive formation of a modern military discipline in the Republic of Genoa.

REASONS FOR COLLECTING / WHY TO BUY
GENOAN MILITARY HISTORY – A fundamental document for the study of the organization of the army of the Serenissima Republic of Genoa in the first half of the 18th century.
ZIGNAGO ORDINANCES – A rare edition of the ordinances drawn up by Colonel Lorenzo Maria Zignago and intended to subject Genoese troops to an organic discipline.
DISCIPLINE AND TACTICS – Includes rules on recruitment, drill and discipline of the soldiery, handling of the rifle and the bayonet, evolutions and command procedures.
RARITY AND DOCUMENTARY INTEREST – Seventeenth-century edition of interest to collectors of military history, history of the Republic of Genoa and the formation of modern armies.

MARKET VALUE
Rare volume on the antiquarian market, particularly interesting for its specific institutional provenance and for its normative content. Complete copies in good condition are of particular interest to collectors of military history, Ligurian history and the history of institutions. Its value ranges between 400 and 600 euros.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary leather binding in parchment, with raised spine and signs of use. Copy with some physiological foxing and staining of the paper, spots and halos. The text is overall clearly legible. In old books, with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visuals. Refer to the original photographs to verify the item’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp.: (4); 14 unnumbered pages; 272; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Instituti, et ordini militari.
In Genoa, for Gio. Battista Casamara, 1722.
Lorenzo Maria Zignago.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Instituti et Ordini Militari represent a significant testimony to the rationalization process of Genoese military organization at the beginning of the 18th century. The 1722 reprint adopts a series of innovations, decrees and dispositions following the 1710 ordinances and is formally approved by the Serenissimi Colleges with decree of 22 January 1722. The volume governs not only the conduct of soldiers but the entire functioning of the military machinery: recruitment, drill and discipline of the soldiery, use of arms, evolutions, hierarchies, officers’ duties, penalties, governance of towns and fortresses. The normative structure thus reflects the transition toward an army regulated by written, uniform and systematic dispositions.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Lorenzo Maria Zignago was a colonel of the Republic of Genoa and was tasked by the Military Magistrate with drafting the military ordinances intended for the Republic’s troops. The first draft dates to 1710; the new 1722 version incorporated subsequent legislative and regulatory modifications and was approved by the Serenissimi Colleges. His work is today remembered in historical bibliography as one of the main documents relating to the discipline of the Genoese army in the early 18th century.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first edition of the ordinances was printed in 1710 in Genoa by Antonio Scionico, after being commissioned by the Military Magistrate to Colonel Lorenzo Maria Zignago. Following a series of new provisions and changes, the ordinances were revised and re-published in 1722. This second version bears on the frontispiece the precise statement “Printed in the year 1710, and reprinted again in the year 1722” and was printed in Genoa for Gio. Battista Casamara, in the Piazza delle cinque Lampade. The reprint includes 14 preliminary unnumbered pages and 272 numbered pages of text, organized into three main parts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/SBN; EDIT16; USTC; CERL; WorldCat; bibliographic repertoires of Genovese eighteenth-century editions; repertoires on the military history of the Republic of Genoa; Cultura-Barocca, “The New Armies of the 18th Century and the Military Regulations”, with transcription and analysis of the Genoese military ordinances of 1722; Cultura-Barocca, bibliographic entry for Lorenzo Maria Zignago; Maremagnum, bibliographic description of a 1722 copy, described as in-8°, pp. (16), 272.