Phrantzes | Chronikon, Vienna, 1796, contemporary half calf

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213

PHRANTZES, GEORGIOS

Χρονικον [edited by Franz Carl Alter]. Vienna: the brothers Pouliou, 1796

folio (378 x 233mm.), additional engraved title-page, woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut illustrations (including a map of Constantinople and portraits of emperors), contemporary calf-backed paper boards, red edges, rebacked

This annalistic account of the last years of the Byzantine Empire is attributed to Phrantzes or Sphrantzes (1401-1477), a diplomat and historian who served the last few emperors and lived through the Siege of Constantinople, though the authorship is often debated. His account is known as the Chronicon minus, though it was expanded by Makarios Melissenus shortly afterwards into what is known as the Chronicon maius.

LITERATURE:

Staikos, Die in Wien gedruckten griechischer Bücher 1749-1800, 91