SYNCELLUS, George (Synkellos); Saint NICEPHORUS; GOAR, Jacques (ed.)., Georgii monachi et S.P.N. Tarasii patriarchae CP. quondam Syncelli Chronographia, ab Adamo vsque ad Diocletianum. Et Nicephori patriarchae CP. Breviarium chronographicum, ab Adamo ad Michaelis et eius F. Theophili tempora. Georgius Syncellus e Bibliotheca Regia nunc primum, adiecta versione latina, editus. Nicephori Breviarum ad varias editiones recensitum. His tabulae chronologicae et annotationes additae. Cura et studio P. Iacobi Goar ordinis praedicatorum congregationis reformatae Sancti Ludouici., Typographia Regia (Sebastien Cramoisy), 1652

Folio, contemporary vellum binding with tan gilt-lettered label to spine, raised bands, linear ornamentation to boards, pp. [ff. 2 blank + 20], 528, 88, [ff. 11 + 2 blank], with elaborate royal printer’s colophon copper-engraved to title page and figurative ornamentation throughout volume. Contents: half title; title page; dedication to Pierre Seguier, Chancellor of France, by Jacques Goar; preface; “Syllabus authorum et librorum”; “Georgii Syncelli Chronographia”; title page to “S. Paris nostri Nicephori Constantinopoleos”; “Sancti Nicephori Chronographia Compendiaria”; “Canon chronicus genearcharum”; “Georgii Syncelli textus Eusebii excerptorum, sive cuiusuis alterus, aut ipsius Georgij nomine a Scaligero relati”; amendments and annotations by Jacques Goar; annotations to “Breviarium chronographicum S. Nicephori patriarchae CP.”; index. Two important early chronicles of world history from the creation of Adam, the first by George Syncellus (or Synkellos) who continues the chronicle to the third century, the second by Saint Nicephorus the patriarch who take his story up to the time of writing, both of whom were active in Byzantium at the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries. The Medieval Greek and Latin texts appear side-by-side, and the texts are annotated and discussed profusely by the French Dominican and Hellenist Jacques Goar. The book makes up part of a much larger project, the monumental Corpus byzantinae historiae begun in 1645 under the direction of the Jesuit scholar Philippe Labbe and the auspices of Louis XIV. Text in Medieval Greek and Latin.