Thucydide

1550 · rif. 111546 — London: William Tylle 1550. First edition of one one of the greatest of classic historical works. Folio bound in 19th century full vellum morocco spine label marbled endpapers title-page with elaboarate historiated woodcut border. In very good condition with light toning to the text. Rare and desirable in this condition. “The standards and methods of Thucydides as a contemporary historian have never been bettered. He began work at the very start of the events he records and the penetration and concentration which he devoted to his account of the ‘Peloponnesian War’ the war between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 404 B.C. were based on the conviction that it would prove the most important event in Greek history… He saw his history as a source of profit to ‘those who desire an exact knowledge of the past as a key to the future which in all probability will resemble the past.’ It was in this sense… that he called it… ‘a possession forever.’ This is exactly what it has become” PMM 102. William Tylle hardcover