A sixteenth century Italian courtier, diplomat and soldier, Baldassare Castiglione wrote ‘The Book of the Courtier’, a philosophical dialogue dealing with questions of the etiquette and morality. Influencing major literary and political figures for generations, Castiglione’s book successfully defined the modern archetype of the Western ‘gentleman’. It transformed elite identity across Europe by shifting the standard of nobility from raw military force to an integrated balance of physical skill, classical letters and effortless social grace. Delphi’s Renaissance Collection provides eReaders with rare and prominent works of literature, science, history, biography and philosophy from the fifteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries. A pivotal period of human development, the Renaissance period witnessed the dismantling of medieval scholasticism, birthing modern European languages and shifting the human consciousness from a god-centric worldview to a humanistic perspective. This eBook presents Baldassare Castiglione’s collected works, with illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* Features the collected works of Baldassare Castiglione, in both English translation and the original Italian
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Castiglione’s life and works
* Concise introduction to the author and his work
* Multiple translations of ‘The Book of the Courtier’: Thomas Hoby, 1561 and Leonard Eckstein Opdycke, 1901
* Includes Opdycke’s original hyperlinked footnotes
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Easily locate the sections you want to read with individual contents tables
* Includes Castiglione’s rare poetry in a new translation, alongside the original Italian verses
* Provides a special dual English and Italian text of ‘The Book of the Courtier’, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph — ideal for students
* Features two bonus biographical texts

CONTENTS:

The Translations
The Book of the Courtier (1561 translation)
The Book of the Courtier (1901 translation)
The Poetry of Baldassare Castiglione

The Original Text
Il libro del cortegiano (Italian Text)

The Dual Text
Dual Italian and English Text

The Biographies
Extract from ‘Renaissance in Italy’ (1877) by John Addington Symonds
Baldassare Castiglione (1911)