A History of the Borgias (The Modern Library of the World's Best Books, ML 192)

1931-39 printing of Toledano 192.1, binding 7, orange Rockwell Kent endpapers. Lacks jacket. Spine toned, dime-sized spot on front board, boards lightly soiled. xxxiii, 408 pp. "Borja (better known by the Italian spelling of the name, Borgia) was an influential Spanish family during the Renaissance. Callixtus III was a Borgia and a pope. His nephew, Alexander VI, also a pope, was notorious for his unpontifical private life. Alexander's illegitimate children included Cesare Borgia, a political operator and intriguer, and Lucrezia Borgia, married to the Duke of Ferrara and a patron of learning and art. The Borgias legendarily poisoned people to gain political advantage and wealth, although little documentary evidence for this exists. A later member of this family, Francis Borgia, was canonized as a saint. Although the Borgia family is closely associated with the Italian Renaissance, they were of Spanish origin and the name is of Valencian/Catalan origin; the family used the Valencian language among themselves, for privacy, even in Italy. There is a town in Spain called Borja which is the seat of the Camp de Borja comarca, in the province of Zaragoza in Aragon. But the Borjas themselves were Valencian. Alexander VI created for Giovanni Borgia the title duke of Gandia, a Valencian fief he purchased from King Ferdinand II of Aragon.…