Thucydides

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 USD

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Description

Thucydides
Thucydids De Bello Peloponnesiaco Libri VIIIIidem Latine, ex interpretatione Laurentii Vallae, ab Henrico stephano recognita in Hac secunda editione... [Geneva]: Excudebat Henricus Stephanus, anno 1588
Ink, paper and cow

Folio (13 1/2 x 9 3/4 in.; 340 x 220 mm). Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, Estienne device on title; a few small wormholes, small tear on the upper right corner of the title page, not affecting the text. Contemporary calf, three-line outer border ruled in blind, similarly ruled central panel with gilt floral cornerpieces, in the center the gilt arms of William Cecil, 1st baron Burghley, spine with raised bands and gilt center ornaments; later label, probably rebacked, repairs to joints.

Provenance

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (coat of arms on covers) — Duke of Devonshire (eighteenth-century Chatsworth bookplate on the title verso and 8th Duke of Devonshire bookplate). acquisition: Bernard Quaritch, 1992

Literature

Davenport, p. 98; Nixon, no. 24; Schreiber, p. 216

Catalogue Note

Second Estienne edition. "Generally considered the best 16th-century edition of the greatest historian of Athens. For this new edition Estienne has corrected the Greek text and scholia, as well as further revised Valla's Latin translation, which is now printed on the same page with the Greek text in parallel columns, while the Greek scholia are printed at the foot of the page" (Schreiber).

Lord Burghley's copy. The coat of arms of the covers is from the first of the two blocks used on Lord Burghley's books.