Blondus, Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades, Venice, 1484, later marbled calf

BLONDUS, FLAVIUS

Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades. Pius II. Abbreviatio supra Decades Blondi. Venice: Thomas de Blavis, de Alexandria, 28 June 1484

Chancery folio (278 x 192mm.), 301 leaves (of 302, without initial blank), a–g⁸ h¹⁰ i–u⁸ x¹⁰ A⁸ B¹⁴ C–I AA–DD⁸ EE-FF¹⁰, 55 lines plus headline, roman type, 4- to 8-line initials in red (a few supplied later in black ink), early annotations in different hands (some cropped), eighteenth-century Italian marbled calf, flat spine gilt, red edges, cut close at head, inscription erased from foot of a2, a few marginal paper repairs, occasional light foxing, small stain on A2, BB1 with small hole in text from acidic ink and with a repaired tear in gutter, binding slightly rubbed

Second edition of Blondus's history from the fall of the western Roman Empire to his own day (the middle of the fifteenth century), first printed in 1483. Pius II felt the work was too lengthy and lacking in style, and himself wrote a summarised version of it; this was the version used by Platina for his Lives of the Popes and by Machiavelli for his Florentine History. Pius's summary was printed before the original, though it is included in this edition.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ib00699000

PROVENANCE:

Charles Maria Kaufmann of Frankfurt, bookplate and inscription dated at Rome

Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.

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