Porcia, De re militari liber, Venice, 1530, later calf

PORCIA, JACOPO DI AND POLYBIUS

Two works in one volume, comprising:

i. Porcia, Jacopo di. De re militari liber. (Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 26 February 1530), woodcut initials, with final blank

ii. Polybius. Libro della militia de Romani et del modo dell'accampare. [Venice], 1536, lacking plate

2 works in one volume, 4to (208 x 147mm.), later calf, boards detached (with title-page from first work still attached to board), spine cracked between the two works

Porcia (1462-1538) was often mentioned at the time alongside Valturio and Machiavelli as one of the foremost modern writers on warfare. He had also mentioned the need for military preparation in his works on education and on the administration of the Venetian Republic. His military treatise was previously printed in Strassburg in 1527 and translated into English in 1544; the 1537 Basel reprint incorporates the extract from Polybius (from book VI of the Historiae) bound second in this volume. Porcia has dedicated the book to Archduke Ferdinand.

LITERATURE:

Cockle 510; Edit16 34920 & 50725