de' Nerli, Filippo
Comentari delle cose di Firenze
£500
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 17 June 2020 at 11:00 BST
Description
Folio, scribal manuscript on paper, c.1720, [18], 597 pp., 290 x 200mm, title-page written in capitals within an ink frame, contemporary calf, green edges, some show-through (particularly in headlines), rebacked
Footnote
Provenance: [George Berkeley]
Note: Despite being composed in the mid-sixteenth century, Nerli's history of Florence from 1215 to the battle of Montemurlo in 1537 was not published until 1728 in Augsburg, alongside other works of Florentine history by Varchi and Segni. Nerli's nephew presented a copy of his manuscript to Francesco de' Medici in 1574 (the dedication is included in the present manuscript). This manuscript was apparently commissioned by the philosopher George Berkeley while in Florence in January 1720, together with a manuscript of Bernardino Segni's Storie fiorentine, which was also in the Ombersley library. Berkeley accompanied St George Ashe on his Grand Tour from 1717 to 1720, spending most of the year 1720 in Florence, acquiring works of art.