The Medici (The Modern Library of the World's Best Books, ML 179)

New York: The Modern Library, 1933. First Thus. Hard Cover. Good/Good. 7x4x1. First Modern Library edition, Toledano 179.1, binding/jacket style 5d, orange Rockwell Kent endpapers, $0.95 jacket price, unnumbered title list on jacket verso. Very good in fair to good jacket. Jacket rubbed, soiled, and toned with 1 inch chip from spine head and minor loss from other corners, jacket spine foxed, front hinge just beginning to weaken, fore edge faintly foxed. 1933 Hard Cover. xxi, 824 pp. 8vo. Includes section of aquatone illustrations and a fold-out genealogical chart following text. A history of the prominent family that enjoyed influence in Florence for several centuries. "The Medici family were a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII, and Leo XI), numerous rulers of Florence (notably Lorenzo the Magnificent, patron of some of the most famous works of Renaissance art) and later members of the French and English royalty. Like other signore families they dominated their city's government. They were able to bring Florence under their family's power, allowing for an environment where art and humanism could flourish. They led the birth of the Italian Renaissance along with the other great signore families of Italy such as the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan, the Este of Ferrara, and the Gonzaga of Mantua. The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and most respected in Europe. There are some estimates that the Medici family were for a period of time the wealthiest family in Europe. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy and Europe. A notable contribution to the profession of accounting was the improvement of the general ledger system through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits. This system was first used by accountants working for the Medici family in Florence.