*MACHIAVEL. Reflections of Machiavelli on the first Decade of Titus Live. New translation, preceded by a preliminary discourse, By Mr. D. M. D. R. Amsterdam, Paris: Alex. Jombert jeune, 1782. - 2 volumes in-8, 218 x 141 : (2 ff.), 397 pp. ; (2 ff.), 454 pp., (1 f. blank). Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, spine decorated, gilt border inside, gilt edges (period binding). First edition of the translation given by Paul Pierre Joseph Menc (1745-1784) of Machiavelli's Reflections on the first Decade of Titus Live, and especially of the important Preliminary Discourse occupying the first 126 pages of the first volume. It is one of the most esteemed early translations of this text. Menc was a general lawyer at the parliament of Provence. He gave this translation only two years before his death at the age of 39. Copy on Hollande paper, in contemporary morocco. A few small traces of wear and tear, small black spots on the first cover of the second volume. Light staining affecting the last leaves of the second volume.