Isabella Sforza, 1544

SFORZA, Isabella (1503-1561). Della vera tranquillita' dell'animo. Venice: heirs of Aldus, 1544.

First edition of a philosophical work by a notable Renaissance woman. The text was edited by Ortensio Lando, who relates in the preface that he had himself just written a treatise on the tranquility of the soul when he discovered that his friend, Isabella Sforza, had recently completed a work on the same topic. Finding her composition superior to his, he helped her get it printed, urging the dedicatee, Bishop Otto von Waldburg, to read it carefully as a demonstration of "what the feminine sex can accomplish if properly instructed in literature." Isabella Sforza was the great-granddaughter of Alessandro Sforza (1409-73), founder of the Pesaro line of the family. Her other works included a treatise on the condition of women. Adams S-1044; BM/STC Italian 624; Gamba 1646; Renouard Aldes, 129.1; UCLA 318.

Quarto (205 x 151mm). Woodcut Aldine device on title and final page (faint dampstain to lower margin, slightly faded impression on parts of sheet D2.3). 19th-century stiff vellum. Provenance: Giannalisa Feltrinelli (her sale, Christie's, 7 October 1997, lot 90).