![THUCYDIDES (460-395BC). Historia belli Peloponnesiaci. Translated by Laurentius Valla, Edited by Bartholomaeus Parthenius. [Treviso: Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 1483?].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0095_001(thucydides_historia_belli_peloponnesiaci_translated_by_laurentius_vall025504).jpg?w=1)
![THUCYDIDES (460-395BC). Historia belli Peloponnesiaci. Translated by Laurentius Valla, Edited by Bartholomaeus Parthenius. [Treviso: Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 1483?].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0095_002(thucydides_historia_belli_peloponnesiaci_translated_by_laurentius_vall025522).jpg?w=1)
![THUCYDIDES (460-395BC). Historia belli Peloponnesiaci. Translated by Laurentius Valla, Edited by Bartholomaeus Parthenius. [Treviso: Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 1483?].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0095_000(thucydides_historia_belli_peloponnesiaci_translated_by_laurentius_vall025456).jpg?w=1)
Details
THUCYDIDES (460-395BC). Historia belli Peloponnesiaci. Translated by Laurentius Valla, Edited by Bartholomaeus Parthenius. [Treviso: Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 1483?].
First edition of the most important work in Greek historiography. Thucydides’ first appearance in print. The standard translation throughout the Renaissance, it precedes the first Greek edition by almost twenty years (Venice: Aldus, May 1502). It is fitting that the translator was Laurentius Valla, one of the central figures of the humanistic movement and the translator for Homer and Herodotus. Wide margins profusely annotated by 16th-century Italian scholars. *HC 15511; BMC VI 896; Bod-inc T-203; BSB-Ink T-340; Goff T-359.
Chancery folio (308 x 204mm). Without final blank (3 leaves marginally repaired or reinforced, minor worming to inner margin, a few repaired on the last leaf, light finger-soiling). Contemporary Cologne blindstamped calf over wooden boards [Schwenke-Sammlung Blattwerk 605], metal corners, traces of clasps, leaves of a 15th-century French missal used as pastedowns (restitched and rebacked in style, presumably to fit the new down-sized format following the removal of a previously bound work: probably an edition of Herodotus, its title still visible on the edges). Provenance: Venice (16th-century marginalia by at least 2 hands and dated annotations) – ?Fano (ink inscription reading ‘Gra Deo opt. max. die xxv octobr. M.d.xx FANI’ on colophon).
First edition of the most important work in Greek historiography. Thucydides’ first appearance in print. The standard translation throughout the Renaissance, it precedes the first Greek edition by almost twenty years (Venice: Aldus, May 1502). It is fitting that the translator was Laurentius Valla, one of the central figures of the humanistic movement and the translator for Homer and Herodotus. Wide margins profusely annotated by 16th-century Italian scholars. *HC 15511; BMC VI 896; Bod-inc T-203; BSB-Ink T-340; Goff T-359.
Chancery folio (308 x 204mm). Without final blank (3 leaves marginally repaired or reinforced, minor worming to inner margin, a few repaired on the last leaf, light finger-soiling). Contemporary Cologne blindstamped calf over wooden boards [Schwenke-Sammlung Blattwerk 605], metal corners, traces of clasps, leaves of a 15th-century French missal used as pastedowns (restitched and rebacked in style, presumably to fit the new down-sized format following the removal of a previously bound work: probably an edition of Herodotus, its title still visible on the edges). Provenance: Venice (16th-century marginalia by at least 2 hands and dated annotations) – ?Fano (ink inscription reading ‘Gra Deo opt. max. die xxv octobr. M.d.xx FANI’ on colophon).
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