[Bibliotheca historica, Books 1-6 [i.e. 1-5]]

4to. ff. [iii] (blank), CXXIII [i.e. CXXIV], [vi], [i] (blank). Signatures: a-v⁸·⁴ x⁶ y⁴. Printer's mark (Renouard 890) on title page. Contemporary blindstamped calf, with contemporary annotations.

 

The ‘editio princeps’ of Diodorus’ Bibliotheca historica, a universal history in forty books completed sometime between 36 and 30 BC, was a Latin translation of the first five books by Poggio Bracciolini in 1472 [represented as 1-6, as book 1 is in two parts]. It contains a description of the cultural heritage and geography of Egypt (book 1), Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (book 2), North Africa (book 3), Greece (book 4) and Europe (book 5). The present work was edited by Gilles de Maizières (Aegidius Maserius), cf. dedication and explicit. It was mistakenly listed as an incunable by F. R. Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries: A Third Census. Millwood (N.Y.), 1973, D-215. It contains many traditional forgeries, including Ctesias, and (in book 5) an account of the lost Historia sacra of Euhemerus (c. 300 bc); see Diogenes Laertius (Bib# 4102577/Fr# 13 in this collection).

 

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