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Correspondence, translated

The Private Letters

Before he was a byword for cynicism, Machiavelli was a civil servant writing home about bad roads, worse politics and a farm he couldn't afford. Ninety letters — including the famous night-time letter that announces The Prince — translated and annotated.

$29digital + print
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Handwritten Renaissance letter and quill pen beside a cloth-bound book

What you'll take away

  • Ninety letters in full, not the usual anthologised handful
  • The 10 December 1513 letter, where The Prince is first described
  • Headnotes setting up who is writing to whom, and why it mattered
  • A cast list of correspondents: Vettori, Guicciardini, his son Guido
  • A timeline linking each letter to the events it reacts to
  • PDF, EPUB and paperback

Five parts

  1. 01

    I. The Chancery years

    Dispatches from a working diplomat: France, the Emperor, and Cesare Borgia at close range.

  2. 02

    II. Arrest and rope

    1513: conspiracy, torture, release, and the letters written with wrecked shoulders.

  3. 03

    III. Exile at Sant'Andrea

    Birdlime, card games with the butcher, and the evening ritual that produced The Prince.

  4. 04

    IV. Vettori and the long argument

    The correspondence that reads like two men inventing political analysis in real time.

  5. 05

    V. Last commissions

    Walls, histories, small jobs and smaller hopes, up to the final weeks of 1527.

“I laughed out loud twice and then got quietly wrecked by the exile letters. He's a person again.”
Hannah B. — Novelist
“The headnotes do the work. I never had to stop and look anything up.”
Adam L. — History teacher
“Best possible companion to The Prince. Read them side by side.”
Giulia F. — Translator

Questions

Are these complete letters or extracts?
Complete. Every letter in the volume is printed in full, with omissions in the original manuscripts marked.
Do I need background knowledge?
No. Each letter has a short headnote and the cast list keeps every name straight.
Is the translation modern?
Yes — contemporary English that keeps his rhythm and his jokes, including the rude ones.
Is there a print edition?
A paperback ships worldwide; digital formats unlock straight after checkout.

The man behind the reputation.

Ninety letters that make The Prince read completely differently — and make its author impossible to caricature.

Get the Letters

Instant digital delivery. 30-day money-back guarantee.