![THUCYDIDES (471?-400? B.C.). De bello Peloponnesiaco, in Greek. Edited by Aldus Manutius. Venice: Aldus Manutius, [not before 14] May 1502.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/CKS/1999_CKS_06125_0137_000(114341).jpg?w=1)
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THUCYDIDES (471?-400? B.C.). De bello Peloponnesiaco, in Greek. Edited by Aldus Manutius. Venice: Aldus Manutius, [not before 14] May 1502.
Super-chancery 2 (321 x 212). 124 leaves, with both blanks present. Greek types 3:84 (text) and 4:79 (dedication), italic 1:80 (dedication) and roman 10:82 (incidental). 55 lines and headline, initial spaces with printed guide-letters. (Small wormholes, heavier at end, very occasional light spotting or dampstaining, mostly marginal.) Contemporary German blindstamped pigskin over thick wooden boards, flat spine, remains of two clasps (slightly worn, detaching at front joint, leather torn at head and foot of spine, lower board wormed). Provenance: Dionysius Cap[--] of Weitlingen(?), Germany (flyleaf inscription dated 1533); inscription erased from title; W. Blackie (flyleaf inscription dated 1864).
EDITIO PRINCEPS. Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian war (431-404 B.C.) is renowned as much for establishing historical methods and standards as for its record of one of the most important events in Greek history. Thucydides states that he limited his sources to either personal knowledge or close scrutiny of the evidence of others. In seeking to set forth the facts of the war untainted by hearsay, he created a lasting record which was, as he himself called it, 'a possession for ever' (cf. PMM 102). The History was first published at Treviso in 1483 in a Latin translation by Lorenzo Valla, commissioned by Cardinal Bessarion. Adams T-662; Hoffmann III, 550; Renouard, Alde, 1502, 4.
Super-chancery 2 (321 x 212). 124 leaves, with both blanks present. Greek types 3:84 (text) and 4:79 (dedication), italic 1:80 (dedication) and roman 10:82 (incidental). 55 lines and headline, initial spaces with printed guide-letters. (Small wormholes, heavier at end, very occasional light spotting or dampstaining, mostly marginal.) Contemporary German blindstamped pigskin over thick wooden boards, flat spine, remains of two clasps (slightly worn, detaching at front joint, leather torn at head and foot of spine, lower board wormed). Provenance: Dionysius Cap[--] of Weitlingen(?), Germany (flyleaf inscription dated 1533); inscription erased from title; W. Blackie (flyleaf inscription dated 1864).
EDITIO PRINCEPS. Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian war (431-404 B.C.) is renowned as much for establishing historical methods and standards as for its record of one of the most important events in Greek history. Thucydides states that he limited his sources to either personal knowledge or close scrutiny of the evidence of others. In seeking to set forth the facts of the war untainted by hearsay, he created a lasting record which was, as he himself called it, 'a possession for ever' (cf. PMM 102). The History was first published at Treviso in 1483 in a Latin translation by Lorenzo Valla, commissioned by Cardinal Bessarion. Adams T-662; Hoffmann III, 550; Renouard, Alde, 1502, 4.