Odense, 1839.
8vo. Lovely green full patterned cloth with a single gilt line-border to boards and double gilt lines to spine - presumably a gift-binding. Hinges and capitals worn with loss of cloth. Light wear along edges. Light occasional brownspotting and a few pencil-underlinings and light pencil-notes. Old owner's name to front free end-paper (Oldenburg). (4), 127, (1) pp.
First edition of the first real contribution to Machiavelli literature in Denmark, defining the way that Machiavelli was viewed in Scandinavia. The author Caspar Pauldan-Müller (1805-1882) was one of the most important Danish historians of his time and brother of the famous Danish poet Frederik Paludan-Müller. "The explicit revaluation of "The Prince" in Scandinavia had already taken place during the Romantic Age, thanks to the Danish historian Caspar Peter Paludan-Müller (1805-1882), and particularly to his essay "Undersögelse om Machiavelli som Skribent, især med Hensyn til Bogen om Fyrsten. Et Forsøg i den høiere historiske Kritik". The first Danish translation of the whole work dates back to only 1876." (Roberto de Pol: The First Translations of Machiavelli's Prince, p. 249). The work is still of the utmost importance, not only because of Paludan Müller’s own, original interpretation of “The Prince” and Machiavelli's historical importnace, but also because Paludan-Müller here considers a very large number of publications written about Machiavelli throughout the three preceding centuries, contributing significantly the reception history of both Machiavelli and The Prince. As the historian Erslev later noted in his overview of Danish literature, this work would presumably also internationally have been considered a very important contribution to Machiavelli literature, had it been published in a more widely read language than Danish. The work was recently (2020) republished (in a modernized Danish), for the first time since its original appearance in 1839.
Order-nr.: 62639