KINNAMOS, John; DU FRESNE, Charles; SILENTIARIUS, Paulus., Joannis Cinnami imperatorii grammatici historiarum libri sex, seu De rebus gestis a Joanne et Manuele Comnensis impp. cp. Accedunt Caroli Du Fresne, D. Du Cange, Regi a Consiliis, & Franciae apud Ambianos Quaestoris, in Nicephori Bryennii caesaris Annae Comnenae caesarissae, & ejusdem Joannis Cinnami Historiam Comnenicam notae historicae & philologicae. His adiungitur Pauli Silentiarii descriptio sanctae Sophiae, quae nunc primum prodit Graece & Latinae, cum uberiori commentario., Typographia Regia (Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy), 1670

Folio, contemporary vellum binding with tan gilt-lettered leather label to spine, raised bands, embossed geometric ornamentation to boards, pp. [2 blank + 22], 602, [34 + 2 blank], with tables, elaborate copper-engraved printer’s colophon to title page, the coat of arms of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, copper-engraved initials, elaborate ornamentation through volume, some illustrations including view of the Church of Santa Sophia (now known as Hagia Sophia) by Noel Cochin, and map of Constantinople by Jacques Lalouette. Binding bumped and rubbed, minimal staining to pages, label slightly chipped with no loss, repair work to pastedowns; otherwise an excellent copy of a VERY RARE book. Contents: half title; title page; dedication to Jean-Baptiste Colbert by Charles Du Fresne; preface; “De Cinnamo”; half title in Greek in Latin; “Historiarum”; title page to “Caroli du Fresne ambiani, dom. du Cange, regi a consiliis, et Franciae quaestoris, in Nicephori Bryennii Caesaris, Annae Comnenae Caesarissae, et Joannis Cinnami regii grammatici Historiam Comnenicum, Notae Historicae et Philologicae. Praemittuntur ad pleniorem eiusdem Historiae notitiam Descriptio Constantinopoleos, ex Christophoro de Bondelmontibus; & Indices Genealogici Ducarum, Bryenniorum, Comnenorum, Ducum Apuliae, & Sultanorum Turcicorum & Iconiensium”; map of Constantinople; “Descriptio urbis Constantinopoleos”; “Notae in descriptionem Constantinopoleos”; 8 genealogical tables; “Caroli du Fresne ambiani, domini du Cange, quaestoris Franciae in Nicephori Bryennii Caesaris commentarios notae historicae et philologicae”; half title for “Caroli du Fresne ambiani, dom. du Cange, quaestoris Franciae, in Annae Comnenae Caesarissae Alexiadem notae historicae et philologicae”; “In Annae Comnenae Alexiadem Notae”; half title to “Caroli du Fresne ambiani, Dom. Du Cange, quaestoris Franciae, in Ioannis Cinnami Historiarum Libros Sex Notae Historicae et Philologicae”; “In Historiam Ioannis Cinnami Notae”; title page to “Pauli poetae Silentiarii Cyri filii descriptio Magnae Ecclesiae seu Sanctae Sophiae. Nunc primum prodit opera et studio Caroli du Fresne D. du Cange, Ambiani, Regi a Consiliis, & Francia Quaestoris. Accedit Descriptio Eiusdem aedis Sophianae, atque adeo caeterarum Aedium Sacrarum, ex variis Scriptoribus, seu in Paulum Silentiarium uberior Commentarius”; preface; “Pauli Silentiarii elogium ex Agathia Scholastico”; “Descriptio S. Sophiae”; “Addenda in notis”; “Indices aliquot ad Historiam Comnenicam”. Important book containing primarily a bilingual Latin-Greek redaction of Joannes (John) Kinnamos’s history of the Byzantine Empire from 1118 to 1176 and Paulus Silentiarius’s description and history of the Church of Santa Sofia in Constantinople. The volume also contains commentaries on Kinnamos’s text and on the Alexiad by Anna Komnene and on the “Material for History” by Nikephoros Bryennios. The book was published as part of a larger enterprise initiated in Paris in 1645 to compile and publish bilingual Latin-Greek redactions of the early histories of the Byzantine Empire, a vast undertaking that began under the direction of the Jesuit scholar Philippe Labbe and the auspices of Louis XIV. Text in Latin and Medieval Greek.