A Rare First-Edition Copy of Machiavelli’s Notorious Political Treatise ‘The Prince’ Heads to Auction

For many years, historians knew of only ten first-edition copies of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince—the controversial 16th-century political treatise—all held by institutions.

However, they recently learned of an 11th copy owned by a private collector, which is now heading to the auction block. Sotheby’s will sell the book at an upcoming Books & Manuscripts auction in London, where it could fetch as much as $375,000.

The book was printed in 1532, five years after the author’s death. The dominant text inside is actually Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories, a lengthy chronicle of Florence commissioned by Pope Leo X. But experts are more interested in the book’s inclusion of The Prince, Machiavelli’s most famous work, which he wrote around 1513.

“We were not aware of any other copies in private hands, and this is the first copy that we are aware of to have come to auction, certainly in recent decades,” Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s books and manuscripts specialist, tells CNN’s Amarachi Orie. He adds that this particular first-edition copy of The Prince, which features an early 17th-century Italian binding, is “very interesting.”

Per a statement from Sotheby’s, The Prince is “one of the most notorious and influential books of all time.” In the early 16th century, its author was a civic official in the Florentine Republic. But in 1512, the infamous Medici family regained power over Florence. Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of conspiracy against the Medicis, and while exiled to his father’s property south of Florence, he wrote The Prince—which some consider the first modern treatise on political science.

The Prince is essentially a “handbook for statesmen” that offers guidance on “how political rulers can stay in power,” as NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli wrote on the treatise’s 500th anniversary in 2013. One of the work’s most famous lines is: “My view is that it is desirable to be both loved and feared; but it is difficult to achieve both and, if one of them has to be lacking, it is much safer to be feared than loved.”

Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, who ruled Florence between 1513 and 1519. The text circulated as a manuscript while Machiavelli was alive, and historians know that at least seven copies were made before its official publication in 1532, per Sotheby’s. In 1559, the Catholic church banned The Prince; it wouldn’t be published again in Italy until 1630.

Since The Prince’s publication, Machiavelli’s name has become “synonymous with political deceit, cynicism and the ruthless use of power,” as NPR wrote, though some scholars have argued that the philosopher doesn’t deserve this reputation. Today, the term “Machiavellian” is frequently used to describe deceitful actions taken in an attempt to gain power.

“We have one of the great works of political theory of all time, one of the most famous books of the 16th century, and it’s a very first edition,” Heaton tells CNN. Sotheby’s is “delighted” to offer the “incredibly rare book,” he adds.

This copy is also lightly annotated. An anonymous reader bracketed a section of text in chapter 18, which includes “some of The Prince’s most strikingly modern pronouncements about the necessity for a savvy politician to manipulate the gulf between appearances and reality to his own ends,” per the statement.

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.