This is a stolen book!

ULLOA, Alfonso de. La Historia dell'impresa di Tripoli di Barberia, della presa del Pegnon di Velez della Gomera in Africa, et del successo della potentissima armata Turchesca venuta sopra I'isola di Malta l'anno 1565. La descrizione dell'isola di Malta. Il disegno dell'isola delle Zebre, & del Forte fattovi da Christiani, & la sua descrittione.

[Rome], [Giulio Accolti]., 1566

Quarto (206 x 145 mm.), [10] leaves, one folding engraved map of the siege of Tripoli, 87 leaves, [2] pages, with woodcut coat of arms of the island of Malta printed upside down on title-page and woodcut istoriated initials. In our copy the two leaves of dedication by Ulloa to Johann Jakob Fugger printed in the italic type are bound after b4. A very good copy in a XIX century vellum binding with manuscript title on spine.

First edition, very rare with the map  bound after leaf b4. “The plate shows the shore of Tripoli and the island of Jerba under siege. It is signed with the monogram of Niccolò Nelli. The plate is not present in in two other Harward copies or in three British Museum copies, buti t does appear in the 1569 reissue of these [1566] sheets by hiers of Melchiorre Sessa (British Museum)”. (Mortimer 509) A complete account of the clashes between the Knights Hospitaller and the Ottoman Empire, by the Spanish historian and translator Alfonso de Ulloa. Published six months after the conclusion of the Siege of Malta, this work chronicles the crucial political events of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars at the time of one of the most significant victories against the Turks. It was edited by Giovanni Battista Tebaldi, with a preface to the reader signed on 3 March 1566.

The work, translated as "The History of the Enterprise of Tripoli in Barbary," presents an important historical account that sheds light on the military and maritime events of the time. Ulloa's narrative primarily focuses on the expedition to Tripoli, situated in the region of Barbary, in present-day Libya. It gives an account of the Siege of Tripoli in 1551, a decisive conflict between the Ottoman Empire, led by Turgut Reis, against the Knights of St. John. The Ottoman forces successfully besieged Tripoli, a Christian stronghold, leading to its fall and the relocation of the knights to the island of Malta. After the 1565 siege of Malta, the Order permanently settled in the island and began to construct a new capital city, Valletta. These events had significant implications for the power dynamics in the Mediterranean, impacting the broader Christian-Muslim rivalry of the 16^th century. The end of the volume includes a short description of the island of Malta, as well as a list of the names of the knights that perished in the siege. Not merely a chronicle, La Historia dell'impresa di Tripoli di Barberia, was a popular work of historical literature recording the tumultuous nature of the geopolitical landscape and military endeavours in the Mediterranean during the 16^th century.

Alfonso de Ulloa (c. 1529 - 1570) was a Spanish historian and translator, born in Extremadura,  who established himself in Venice as a clerk of the embassy of Charles V. An odd and adventurous character, throughout his life, de Ulloa found himself briefly in the service of Hernán Cortés, as a mercenary for the imperial governor of Milan, and involved in a tangled case of espionage. He became close to the printing press of Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, which acted as a conduit of cultural communication between Italy and Spain. From then until his premature and unfortunate death in prison, Alfonso developed an indefatigable and uninterrupted stream of literary work, mostly in the form of translated works of Spanish writers into Italian, such as Juan of Segura, Cristóbal of Castillejo, and Blasco of Garay; Italian works translated into Spanish, such as Petrarch, Ariosto and Paolo Giovo; as well as the Portuguese travel chronicles of João de Barros and Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, and a large number of chronicles and biographies of influential members of the aristocracy, such as the now lost biography of Christopher Columbus written by his son, Ferdinand Columbus. According to preserved correspondence, in 1563 Ulloa committed forgery to be able to print a book in the Hebrew language, a crime that was discovered in 1568. Shortly after, he was sentenced to death, but died in prison after having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

USTC 861576; Edit16 CNCE 48562; BMSTC Italian 704; Graesse VI, 224; Mortimer 509; Adams U 39; DBE ‘Alfonso de Ulloa' [Accessed June 2023].