DARDANI, Alvise

by Alvise Dardani

£2,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

A good copy of the first edition of this fascinating defence of women in the form of a trial. This is the only known work of the humanist and politician Alvise Dardani, published posthumously by the author’s grandson, Ippolito. Challenging the male structured historical discourse through his forceful female speakers, Dardani wrote a ‘splendidly incisive rereading of history’ (Panizza). A prominent member of the Scuola di San Marco, Alvise Dardani (often referred to as Luigi Dardano, c. 1429-1511) had a very successful political career in the Republic of Venice. As provveditore of Mirano, in 1509 he played a fundamental role in securing the allegiance of the city of Padua to the Republic during the Italian wars. The following year, he was elected Grand Chancellor. In the C16, literature celebrating the moral and intellectual integrity of women – written mostly by men – flourished in Italy, particularly in Venice. In the introduction, the author states: ‘Both my verse and my prose intend to demonstrate with pretty clear arguments that, even if women’s virtues cannot be considered superior to those of men, at least they are not inferior. I consider this effort not only pleasant but also useful for readers, because nowadays the world is full of wicked men who, […] would like to stain the name of the courageous women […] They deserve not only repression but also harsh and severe punishment’. The work, in seven books, opens with a long poem in which Dardani urge

• Binding: Hardcover

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