Dialogo de’ giuochi che nelle vegghie sanesi si vsano di fare. Del materiale intronato. All'illustrissima, & eccellentiss. Signora donna Isabella de Medici Orsina duchessa di Bracciano.

8vo (150x100 mm), contemporary stiff vellum, pp. [16], 280; editorial woodcut device at title-page; xylographic initials. Text printed in italic type; printed marginal references in small roman type. Dedication to Isabella de' Medici Orsina, Duchess of Bracciano. Very scarce edition of the refined and amusing Bargagli's small masterpiece (first published in 1572 in Siena) on the intriguing or funny games played in the Tuscany summer evenings of the Renaissance period. The "vegghie sanesi" («Sienese evenings») were a renowned part of the activities of the club of Accademia degli Intronati (one of the first literary and cultural clubs that were formed in Italy; Bargagli being a member), in which cultured word-games were a focus for intriguing interchange between men and women. 137 games and their variants are described, called for wit, verbal skill, and variety of response and enigmas. "Materiale Intronato" is the pseudonym for Girolamo Bargagli (1537-1586), see Melzi, Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime, II, p. 169. A certain amount of intellectual agility would also be required to follow the text, with its long sentences separated by occasional full stops (periods). George Irving Dale in his "Games and Social Pastimes in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age" (Hispanic Review, 1940) calls attention to the number of games that Bargagli describes, their appearance in Spanish drama and elsewhere, observing that "the first game in Bargagli's book of games is that of cross purposes or themes, "del proposito," in which each player whispers something to his neighbor, who in turn whispers an answer and another question until each player has had a turn; after which the questions and answers are repeated aloud for the pleasure of the company. Bargagli mentions that the game is described in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and cites the passage. This game was utilized by Cervantes in his Galatea. The dramatists do not seem to have made any use of it." Prov.: Handwritten ownership inscription at title-page. References: IT\ICCU\UBOE\000146. CNCE, 1386. OCLC, 4486284. Brunet II, 666: «Ouvrage singulier». Graesse, II, 376. IA (Index Aureliensis), 113.022. Rosenthal, BMP, 7056 (ed. 1592). Kaplan & Huets, Encyclopedia of Tarot, I, 30. OCLC 4486281. Cond.: A good copy.