Dudley's original manuscript manual for the use and instruction of the officers of the Tuscan fleet Folio (290 by 196mm). Original working autograph and holograph manuscript, in Italian, illustrated throughout with diagrams, and drawings of instruments, on seventeenth-century Italian paper, with various watermarks including a Sun (similar to Heawood 3893) and a Medici Coat-of-Arms (similar to Heawood 786), extensively revised at the time, some pages edited with paste-overs, others excised; early drab Italian stiff paper wrappers, stabbed and sewn as issued.
Collation: 282 pages, foliated in pencil; pages [i-iv] bio-bibliography by Domenico Maria Manni; 1: title-page; 2: additional draft title-page, and dedication; p3-14: prospectus of contents (cancelled), followed by autobiographical "Proemio"; p15-139: "Direttorio Marittimo", revised texts of 28 chapters of "Dell'arcano del mare", incorporating theological "Proemio", pp39-40; p140-146 addenda. Condition: a few leaves missing between folios 86 and 87 (chapter xix and the beginning of xx), some lower margins trimmed, occasionally crossing the text.
The only known manuscript example of any part of Robert Dudley's magnum opus, "Dell'arcano del mare" held in private hands. An astonishing survival: a working manuscript, seemingly specifically assembled for the eyes and instruction of the officers of the Tuscan Navy, the Knights of St. Stefano, rather than for a public audience. This suggestion is borne out by the wording of the first title for the work that Dudley has crossed out (page 2): "Compendio del Direttorio Marittimo: Il primo Tomo e intilato, Supplemento della Navigare. Nel primo libro si discorre dell'arte, piu Curiosa di Navigare." This was also the theory of Sir John Temple Leader, previous owner, and Dudley scholar: "It seems probable that the Arcano del Mare was only a resume of several previous works by Dudley. One of them is the MS. volume, quarto size, of which I possess the original, mostly in Dudley's own hand. It is called the "Direttorio Marittimo", and was written in very faulty Italian for the use and instruction of the officers of the Tuscan fleet. In it most of the subjects enlarged upon in the Arcano, are treated concisely, including great circle sailing and all kinds of navigation; the administrative management of a fleet, and its maneuvers in a naval battle, etc.
The book is in ancient covers of thick paper, and preceded by a dedication to the Grand-Duke, and by a sketch of Dudley's own naval life, written in his own hand with all his corrections and underlinings" (Leader, page 19). Leader acquired the "Direttorio" from Florentine librarian, collector, and bookseller, Pietro Bigazzi, from who he also acquired Gian Carlo de' Medici's (1611-1663), first edition of "Dell'Arcano del mare", and a second edition, too. Leader writes about all three works, and the story of their acquisition, in his "Life of Sir Robert Dudley" (1895). The texts of the "Direttorio" have clearly been written by Dudley, over time, but from at least as early as 1643-1644, and are further annotated by him up until 1647 (he died in 1649), and then further annotated by others, up until the publication of the second edition of 1661. They include: Dudley's autobiography, in which he sets out his credentials as an expert in all things maritime - exploration, navigation, naval warfare, and architecture; several drafts and a completed version of a theological preface, or "Proemio", which was eventually published in the second edition of the "Dell'arcano del mar" (1661); 28 chapters of material related to the text of the first edition of the "Dell'arcano del mare" (1646-1647); theoretical navigational material not published in either edition of the "Dell'arcano del mare".
Contents Pages [i-iv]: later bio-bibliography Written by Domenico Maria Manni (1690-1788) director of the Biblioteca Strozzi, polymath, editor and publisher, also a member of Academia dell Crusca. He owned the ".