Relationi del Cardinale Bentivoglio, All' Ill. mo e R.mo Sig.r mio Colendiss. Monsig. Francesco Vitelli, Arcivescovo di Thessalonica, Nuncio Apostolico apresso la Sereniss. Republica di Venetia. AND INCLUDING Relatione del Tratto Della Tragua di Fiandra, che si conclusive in Anversa alli IX d'aprile MDXIX. Fatta dal Cardinal Bentivoglio in tempo della sua nuntiatura. Appresso I Serenissimi Arciduchi Alberto et Isabella Infanta di Spagna.

Reprint. Second Ginammi edition (his first printed the year prior.) Hardcover, 8vo in full calf, rebacked, with blind-stamped decoration to boards of rolled floral rectangular decoration and plain double filet to outer edges. Corner fleurons to the front and rear boards. The spine, with remnants of raised compartments, has bits of the original gilt decoration applied with charming irregularity. An applied leather label is illegible. Page edges are deckled with red spatter. In Italian. The title page features a printer's device with the figure of Hope, a woman facing the sun, leaning against an anchor. This figure was copied from a statue by Iacopo Sansovino at the Church of the Savior, located next to the printing house. (L. Spera, BDI, Vol. 55, 2001.) The motto on printer's device: "Spes mea in Deo est," (My hope is in God.) 2 titles in one with continuous numbering. Text features wonderful typography with side notes, wood cut historiated initials and other decorative headers and footers. **COLLATION: pp. [28] 417 [3]. [2]a6 b8 A8-I8 K8-T8 V8 X8-Z8 Aa8-Dd8. Page 361 misnumbered as 347. **CONDITION: Good antiquarian condition. Boards are worn, with show-through to the boards on corners, back and spine. There are signs of water damage to the text block at spine edge. Wear to the fore-edge of the first and final signatures.** CONTENTS: The printer's dedication of the work to Cardinal Bentivoglio, dated 1632; Bentivolglio's dedication of his work to Signor Cardinal Borghese, dated 1611; Table of Contents by Chapters; Preface to Primo Volume; Printer's Preface; Alphabetical Table of Contents incl. both works; Most quoted sentences, all p.[1-28]. VOLUME PRIMO: Report of the Provinces of Flanders made by Cardinal Bentivolio, including an assessment of the political and military strengths 1-164pp. VOLUME SECUNDO: "Della Relatione di Findra, Parte Seconda " p. 165-306. THIRD PART:" Relatione della fuga di Francia Denrico di Borbone Prencipe di Conde, Primo Prencipie del Sangue Reale di Francia, e di quello che sugui fino al sua ritorno a Parigi," p. 307-362. FORTH PART: "Relatione della Mossa D'Arme che Segui in Fiandra L'Anno MDXXIV, per Occasione d'Haver Le Provincie Unite Occupata La Terra, e Castello di Giuliers,"p. 363-417. FINALLY: "Libri Stamparti da Marco Ginammi alla Liberia della Speranza," 2pp. Printer/publisher's catalogue. **AUTHOR, Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio d'Aragona, (1579-1644) was an influential historian and papal statesman, or nuncio, at the Court of the Netherlands around the time of the conclusion of the Eighty Years War, and later, at the court of France. Educated at the University of Padua in both civil and canon law, he was singled out for early advancement by Pope Clement VIII, becoming his private chamberlain. Under Pope Paul V, Bentigvolio would become nuncio at the Court of Archduke Albert and Isabella in the Habsburg Netherlands from 1607-1615, and later Cardinal Protector of France between 1618-1621. Bentivolgio was a signer of the papal condemnation of Galileo, his one-time teacher at Padua. He was favored as successor to Pope Urban VIII, but died suddenly after the opening of the conclave in 1644. ***First published in1629, Bentivoglio wrote to his colleague Cardinal Vitelli, nuncio to Venice and Thessalonika, in the Relationi, with observations on the United Provinces of the Netherlands: the people, the naval and military strength and personalities of the major international players in the area. He also discusses the stresses leading into to the Thirty Years' War, frictions between the Austro-Spanish Habsburgs and the French Bourbons, and the struggles for control by Catholic and Protestant parties. The second book, with its own half title page, is a history of the War of Flanders. *** PRINTER, Marco Ginammi (1590-1654) published two editions of the Relationi, this one in 1633 and another in 1636. The infamous plague which devastated Venice between 1628-30 had forced Ginammi to temporarily cease all p.…