Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, Venice, 1481, later half vellum

Diodorus Siculus

Bibliothecae historicae libri VI [translated by Poggius Florentinus]. Tacitus: Germania [edited by Hieronymus Squarzaficus]. Venice: Thomas de Blavis, de Alexandria, 25 November 1481

Chancery folio (300 x 196mm.), 122 leaves, [*²] a b⁸ c–s⁶ t⁸, 38 lines, roman type, quires r and s transposed, early nineteenth-century half vellum over marbled boards, navy morocco spine label, a few small wormholes, small marginal stain in quire r, binding slightly rubbed

Diodorus Siculus wrote this compendium of historic writings in forty books, which are known to have survived until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453; subsequently only books 1-5 and 11-20 remained. This edition contains books 1-5, though Poggio Bracciolini (whose translation first appeared in 1472) had divided the first book into two. See lot 93 for the Greek editio princeps.

LITERATURE:

ISTC id00212000

PROVENANCE:

Extract from an Italian sale catalogue pasted to inside front cover, with price 35,000; Gustavo Galletti, Florence, ink stamp on second leaf; Baron Horace de Landau, bookplate with printed number 3655