"A GOOD AND GALLANT WORK": PAULO PARUTA'S HISTORY OF VENICE, 1658 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH—THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND'S COPY

(VENICE) PARUTA, Paulo. (CAREY, Henry, Second Earl of Monmouth, translator). The History of Venice… likewise, the Wars of Cyprus… Wherein the Famous Sieges of Nicosia, and Famagosta, and Battel Lepanto are Contained… London: Abel Roper and Henry Herringman, 1658. Two parts in one volume. Small folio (8 by 11-1/2 inches), 18th-century full speckled calf rebacked, raised bands, old red morocco spine label laid down. $6200.

First edition in English of this 17th-century history of Venice, translated by Henry Carey, second Earl of Monmouth—the Duke of Sutherland's copy, with his armorial blindstamp to front cover, as well as earlier and later Leveson-Gower family bookplates.

The second part contains the history of the Turkish conquest of Cyprus in 1570-71. Paruta (1540-98), a Venetian diplomat, authored another work, Discorsi Politici (1599), which Henry Carey also translated. "Carey was five times elected a member of the House of Commons between 1620 and 1628… From this time he seems to have lived in retirement among his books in the country. His father's death in 1639 and his consequent succession to the earldom made little change in his habits… When Charles I issued the famous declaration and profession in June 1642, Monmouth's name appears among the signatures, but from this time he retired from all political life, and henceforth till his death he was busily engaged in translating various works from the Italian and French, and letting the world go by him as if he had no interest in its concerns" (DNB). First published in Venice in 1605. Wing P636. Blackmer 1260. Atabey 929. Armorial blindstamp to front cover of Leveson-Gower, George Granville, first Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833): "At the time of his death the duke of Sutherland, as he had become, was the greatest landowner in the country. He was the largest canal and railway proprietor too. As the Quarterly Review put it, his was 'a single estate certainly not in these days equaled in the British Empire'… His expenditures were enormous, especially those entailed in maintaining the style of Stafford House in London and the other substantial family houses at Trentham, Lilleshall, and Dunrobin. As early as 1806 his living standard was said to have 'exceeded everything in this country, no one could vie with it' (J. Farington)" (ODNB). Large armorial bookplate to verso of title page of his predecessor "John Leveson Gower of Trentham in Stafford Shire Barnet"; later armorial bookplate of his descendant, the Marquis of Stafford, later third duke of Sutherland: "the third duke [of Sutherland] was George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-92), styled marquess of Stafford from 1833 to 1861, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1861" (ODNB).

Title page trimmed a little close at upper margin, just touching border only. Text generally quite clean, expert restoration to corners. An excellent copy with distinguished provenance.