Istoria dell'ultima rivoluzione delli stati del Gran Mogor... Parte prima, e seconda (History of the Last Revolution of the States of the Grand Mogul)
Milan: Federico Agnelli, 1675. Hardcover. Two parts (the latter in two sections), duodecimo. [sect.]6 A-O12 (= 174 leaves). [12], 168, [1, blank], [1, half title]; 171-275, [1 blank]; 277-336pp. First two parts with half titles; woodcut lettrines, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary vellum over light boards with exposed thongs (lightly soiled); old manuscript title along bottom edge. A very good, clean copy in an unsophisticated binding, complete with both half titles.
Rare Italian translation of this important early modern source on Indian customs and culture by François Bernier (1620-1688), “a political and social historian of the first magnitude” (Cox). First published at Paris in 1670 as Histoire de la dernière révolution des Etats du Grand Mogol, Bernier followed up with Suite des memoires sur l’Empire du grand Mogol in 1671. The third part of the present work is an Italian translation of Bernier's letter to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French Minister of State under King Louis XIV, describing the riches of India (Della grandezza dell' Indostan, circulatione dell' Oro, e dell' Argento, doue precipitano le Ricchezze...). The two parts each conclude with a table of persons and words "nella lingua Indiana" along with descriptions in Italian. The author's early discussion of color-based ideas of race is notable; Boule cites Bernier’s residence in India, “where he became familiar with the Indian and even the Mogul attention to biological purity and color” as a key influence on Bernier’s later ideas of race.
References: Cf. Brunet 1:802 and Cox 1:273-274. P. H. Boule, “Race: the Evolution of an Idea -- François Bernier and the Origins of the Modern Concept of Race” in: S. Peabody and T. Stovall, eds., The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003). Very good. Item #49140
Full title: Istoria dell'ultima rivoluzione delli stati del Gran Mogor, con avvenimenti particolari nelle guerre de cinque anni, e racconto delle grandezze dell’ Indostan. Parte prima, e seconda... Portata dal francese nell’italiano da G. B. C.
Price: $1,000.00