Pietra del Paragone Politico Con una nuova aggiunta dell'istesso. (translated: Political Touchstone With a new addition of the same.)

Pietra del Paragone Politico Con una nuova aggiunta dell'istesso. (translated: Political Touchstone With a new addition of the same.) 1667. Amsterdam: Cornelio Last.

32mo. Full period calf. Spine has four raised bands, gilt title to one compartment, gilt floral devices framed in decorative gilt. Corners bumped and rubbed with loss, head and foot of spine rubbed with loss. Hinges cracked but holding. Chipping to extremities.

Pietra del paragone politico (literally Political Touchstone) is a posthumous work of Boccalini, published in 1614 but written earlier — parts circulated in manuscript among friends. It is essentially the third centuria of Boccalini’s Ragguagli di Parnaso. Boccalini had planned four centuriae; only two were published in his lifetime, and the third came out as this Pietra del paragone politico. The work consists of 29 Ragguagli (reports or news‑items) that are more sharply political than many of Boccalini’s earlier satires. Boccalini uses allegory, irony, and satire to criticize political behavior, especially the intrigues and ambitions of Spain in Italian and European affairs.

Traiano Boccalini (1556–1613) was an Italian satirist, political thinker, and writer, best known for his sharp, allegorical critiques of political power—especially that of Spain in Italy—through works that blended myth, parody, and political commentary.