[LINE - DEDICATED TO] Stjepan ZANOVIC - Stiepan-Annibale of - Lot 415

Lot n° 415
Go to lot
Estimation :
150 - 200 EUR
Result : NC
[LINE - DEDICATED TO] Stjepan ZANOVIC - Stiepan-Annibale of - Lot 415
[LINE - DEDICATED TO] Stjepan ZANOVIC - Stiepan-Annibale of Albania to Frederick William of Prussia. Epître pathétique, philosophique, historique, &c. ou L'Alcoran des princes destinés au trône, traduit de la dixième édition italienne, par main de maître. St. Pétersbourg [i.e. Mons?], de l'imprimerie de l'Académie impériale (de l'imprimerie de la ville impériale de Babylone, sur l'Euphrate), 1783. Small in-8°: [2 (of 4, lacking the faux-tittre)], viii, 119 pp. (Rousseurs). Binding. 20th c., red morocco with the figure of Prince Albert de Ligne, gilt on the spine (spine faded). Rare edition, partly original (1782), of this singular treatise on the art of governing, dedicated to the Prince de Ligne by "N...", identified by E. Couvreur as Louis-Balthazar Néel. The printing could be Montois (Watzlawick hypothesis, taken up by R. Mortier). The text is followed by verse pieces under the title La Solitude. Epître en style oriental, de Babylone à Spa, à Frédéric-Guillaume de Prusse, à l'adresse fictive "De l'imprimerie de la ville de Babylone, sur l'Euphrate", which includes L'Hermite de Beloeil. Often attributed to the so-called Prince Castriotto of Albania, alias Stjepan Zanovic (1751-1786), an adventurer from the Dalmatian coast who fooled even the Prince de Ligne, the work has also been attributed to Frederick II, Catherine II and Anacharsis Cloots, the future "orator of the human race", guillotined in 1794. Ref. Roland Mortier, Le "Prince d'Albanie". Un aventurier au Siècle des Lumières. P., H. Champion, 2000, pp. 127, 144-153. Barbier, IV, 568 (Catherine II). Quérard, I, 231 (Zanovic).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue