Thucycides' Historia belli Peloponnesiaci

Thucycides' Historia belli Peloponnesiaci
Johannes (Rubeus) Vercellensis, 1483
THUCYDIDES (c.460-c.400). Historia belli Peloponnesiaci. Translated by Laurentius Valla. [Treviso: Johannes (Rubeus) Vercellensis, 1483?]

First edition of “the work that formed the standards for historiography and political science,” in a contemporary binding (The Greek Book). Thucydides’ first appearance in print, this edition precedes the first Greek edition by almost twenty years and became the standard translation throughout the Renaissance. In the introduction, Thucydides declares his history to be “not for the taste of an immediate public, but intended as a thing for all time.” A pioneer of objectivity and critical analysis for the evaluation of history—or, perhaps, “in the subtle manipulation of data into evidence under the guise of objectivity” (The Greek Book), Thucydides’ influence can be felt in the works of thinkers and politicians from Machiavelli to John F. Kennedy. It is fitting that the translator was Lorenzo Valla, one of the central figures of the humanist movement as well as a translator of Homer and Herodotus. HC 15511*; BMC VI 896; BSB-Ink T-340; Bod-inc T-203; IGI 9641; Klebs 971.1; Goff T-359; ISTC it00359000. See also The Greek Book 33 (Aldine edition) and PMM 102 (Estienne ed.).

Chancery folio (305 x 197mm). 135 leaves (of 136, without final blank). Large red and blue brushwork initials with flourishes and smaller red and blue pen initials, red and blue paragraph marks (old tape repair to initial blank, some light spotting and soiling, some worming, particularly towards end). Contemporary Augsburg blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards [EBDB w002604, Blüte dreizackig II], (repaired, endpapers renewed, lacking clasps). Provenance: “Justinus fuit Venetiis ingressus” (inscription on initial blank with date 12 February 1479) – Charles C. Kalbfleisch (1868-1943, American collector; morocco monogram label; his sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, 10 January 1944, lot 954) – Saul Cohn (his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 26 April 1955, lot 713) – acquired there.