The Prince (Il Principe)

Original-language precedence: Blado, Rome, 4 January 1532 is the first; Bernardo Giunta's Florence edition of 16 March 1532 follows about ten weeks later and is the SECOND edition, not a rival first. The census note is correct on this point. Both 1532 editions are separately collected, and Giunta copies are the more frequently encountered of the two — Giunta held his own 1531 privilege for Machiavelli's works, which is why two authorized editions appear in the same year. The first edition in English is Edward Dacres's translation: 'Nicholas Machiavel's Prince. Also, The life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca. And The meanes Duke Valentine us'd to put to death Vitellozzo Vitelli... Translated out of Italian into English by E.D.', London: printed by R. Bishop for Wil. Hils, 1640, 12mo — STC 17168; the work is Printing and the Mind of Man 63. The census note is correct that the 1640 Dacres is the realistic high-spot for an English-language collection; it is itself rare, and was published in the window when episcopal censorship had broken down.