The Only Early English Translation of Giovanni Botero's Della ragion di stato: Richard Etherington and Sloane MS. 1065
Name
ebljarticle42016.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
4.28 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Trace, Jamie
Date published
2016
Abstract
Giovanni Botero (1544–1617) was an extremely popular Italian author of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His works were translated into a number of languages and saw many editions. One of his most famous works, the Della Ragion di Stato (1589), was particularly popular in Europe. This response to Machiavellian politics spawned a number of treatises on this newly recognised form of politics: reason of state. Despite this success on the continent, Botero's Della Ragion di Stato was never published in England. However a little-known contemporary English manuscript translation exists in the British Library. This article therefore aims at a material and textual analysis of this manuscript translation of the Della Ragion di Stato. By examining how this manuscript was produced and for whom we can understand the significance its creator placed on the work. Then by examining the way in which the Della Ragion di Stato has been translated and by examining the contents of the translator's own 'Adjunct', we can begin to understand how Botero was being read in England.
Journal title
Electronic British Library Journal
Volume
2016
Article number
4
Publisher
British Library
Place of publication
London, UK
eISSN
1478-0259
Official URL
Collection