The first edition in a modern language of one of the most important historical works.
Lhistoire de Thucydide Athenien, de la guerre, qui fut entre les Peloponnesiens et Atheniens(The History of the Peloponnesian War) Thucydides, translated by Claude de Seyssel
Paris, 1527
Folio(330 X 230mm). 16 preliminary leaves, 281(CCLXXXI) leaves. Signatures: a8, e8, a-z8, A-L8, M10(the final blank, lacking). Contemporary blind-stamped calf(likely an old remboitage). Apart from a few minor stains and a tiny worm track in the bottom margin of the last quire, the interior is in quite clean, lovely condition. Near Fine.
Elaborate woodcut border on the title page with contemporary ownership entry crossed out. Various notes on the pastedowns including a very cool contemporary one in French stating,"Today this book belongs to my lord Jacques du Faux, a cloth merchant." A beautifully printed, wide-margined copy of an important and very rare book.
The study of Thucydides was part of the Renaissance tradition of turning to Greek and Roman historians to solve the problems of modern politics. Italian humanist and priest, Lorenzo Valla, made the first known Latin translation of Thucydides in 1452. The editio princeps of Thucydides was printed by Aldus in 1502. Claude de Seyssel(1450-1520), the bishop of Marseilles and later Archbishop of Turin, was the first to put the History of the Peloponnesian War into a modern language using Valla’s Latin edition. In the prologue, he states that this is one of the translations he has done for the use of King Louis XII, who had found in the Ancients useful lessons for a modern monarch. This book was printed by order of his successor, King Francis I, who was said to have carried it with him into war. The famed printer, Jodocus Badius, was contracted to produce 1225 copies on paper and a few on vellum. In the fifty years following this edition, Thucydides was translated and retranslated into several modern languages. The first English translation, based on this French edition, wouldn’t appear until 1550 by Cambridge scholar Thomas Nicolls. Thomas Hobbes’ well-known translation from the Greek text would appear even later in 1629. No other copies of this book appear in sales records since the early 1950s. Scarce.
‘One of the greatest ancient historians, Thucydides(c.460 B.C.–c.400 B.C.) chronicled nearly 30 years of war and tension between Athens and Sparta. His History of the Peloponnesian War set a standard for scope, concision, and accuracy that makes it a defining text of the historical genre. Unlike his near-contemporary Herodotus(author of the other great ancient Greek work, The Histories), Thucydides’ topic was his own time. He relied on the testimony of eyewitnesses and his own experiences as a general during the war. Though specific in detail, the questions he addressed were timeless: What makes nations go to war? How can politics elevate or poison a society? What is the measure of a great leader or a great democracy?
In his opening lines, Thucydides says he wrote about the war between Athens and Sparta, “beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it.” At the time, Athens was a great sea power with a democratic political system and innovative leadership that made it a formidable force. Sparta, located in the Peloponnese(the southern peninsula of mainland Greece), was most powerful as a land force. Its system of government favored austere militarism and adherence to tradition. It was the Spartans’ fear of Athens, Thucydides argues, that led them to make their first, preemptive attack in 430.
In its chronologies and narrative, the History of the Peloponnesian War is a marvel of direct prose, as Thucydides combines multiple sources into a single compelling voice. In the completed sections of the work, the narrative is interrupted by speeches from the warring sides’ principal leaders. Thucydides is careful to note that at times he records only the gist of what was said, or what he thinks should have been said. The greatest of these speeches, such as the Athenian leader Pericles’ oration for his city’s war dead, offer lasting insight into the politics of war and the complexities of human nature.
It took several generations for Thucydides to attain his now-unassailed place as one of the greatest historians of all time. Aristotle, who lived a few decades later and wrote about the same era, never mentions him. By the first century B.C. writers such as Cicero declared him as a great historian. Over the next centuries, numerous copies were made of the work, ensuring its survival past the dark ages. After the Renaissance, political philosophers from Thomas Hobbes to Friedrich Nietzsche extolled Thucydides’ clear vision and realist’s grasp of politics and warfare.’(A&E)
In these difficult times, perhaps some inspiration can be gleaned from Pericles’ famed Funeral Oration for fallen Athenian soldiers(a speech which was possibly a model for Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address). Our democracy can only survive if citizens of good will come together for the greater good of the nation. Tolerance, respect for our fellow citizens, and commitment to freedom can be the bulwark against annihilators of truth and fear mongers seeking to corrupt our institutions.
Other references: Renouard, Schlatter, Smith