Historia Byzantina Duplici Commentario Illustrata

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Charles du Fresne,

Historia Byzantina Duplici Commentario Illustrata

Venetiis (Venice) Ex Typographia Bartholomaei Javarina, MDCCXXIX (1729)

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First published in 1680, this Second Edition of Historia Byzantina presents a history of the Byzantine empire from 395 to 1453. With a description of the city of Constantinople and numerous copperplate engravings.

The volume(s) measure about 39.5 cm. by 26.5 cm. by 5 cm.

Each leaf measures about 390 mm. by 260 mm.

Historia Byzantina duplici commentario illustrata: prior familias ac stemmata imperatorum Constantinopolitanorum, cum eorundem Augustorum Nomismatibus, & aliquot Iconibus: praeterea familias Dalmaticas & Turcicas complectitur: alter descriptionem urbis Constantinopolitanae, qualis extitit sub imperatoribus Christianis. Auctore Carolo DuFresne domino DuCange, Regi a Consiliis, & Franciae apud Ambianos Quaestore. Venetiis (Venice) Ex Typographia Bartholomaei Javarina, MDCCXXIX (1729)

The volume is paginated as follows: (18), 1 – 276, 237 – 242 pages, (8), (2 blank), (12), 1 – 139, 139 [ie 140], [8], (2 blank), 1 -136 pages, (10), 1 – 22 p. Complete including the two blanks. Second Edition.

3 engraved plates (one folding), with numerous in text copper engravings, many full-page, including a map and view of Constantinople.

A single volume, and one of the first published, from “BYZANTIUM. LABBE (PHILIPPE, editor) [Corpus Byzantiae Historiae], 25 vol., half-titles, most title-pages in Greek and Latin with engraved vignette views of Byzantium”. Second Edition 1729 – 1733. This work complete in itself. Printed in Greek and Latin.

Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (1610–1688), a French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium

Bound in contemporary thick paper wraps over a thin paste board, but with the book block sewn. The paper binding somewhat dirty. The boards with corner damage (see photographs).

Internally clean with some creasing in the first gathering, and with the lower corner of the book-block bumped, with folded over edges.

A note on the binding. Paper binding over thin paste board appeared in Europe in the early 18th Century. By 1740 this technique was seen in England. This type of binding, usually executed by the publishers as an economy measure, was intended to be temporary, with the purchaser having the volume rebound either in vellum or leather. Early paper folio bindings from this period are becoming increasingly rare.

Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange or Du Cange (1610 – 1688) was a distinguished philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium.

Educated by Jesuits, du Cange studied law and practiced for several years before assuming the office of Treasurer of France. Du Cange was a busy, energetic man who pursued historical scholarship alongside his demanding official duties and his role as head of a large family.

Du Cange’s most important work is his Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis (Glossary of writers in medieval and late Latin, Paris, 1678, 3 vol.), revised and expanded under various titles, for example, Glossarium manuale ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis (Halae, 1772–1784) or from 1840 onward, Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis (Glossary of medieval and late Latin). This work, together with a glossary of medieval and late Greek that he published ten years later, has gone through numerous editions and revisions and is still consulted frequently by scholars today. Du Cange’s pioneering work distinguished medieval Latin and Greek from their earlier classical forms, marking the beginning of the study of the historical development of languages.

Du Cange mastered languages in order to pursue his main scholarly interests, medieval and Byzantine history. He corresponded voluminously with his fellow scholars. His great historical and linguistic knowledge was complemented by equally deep learning in archaeology, geography and law. In addition to his glossaries, he produced important new editions of Byzantine historians and a number of other works. His extensive history of Illyria was not published until 1746 by Joseph Keglevich, who partially corrected it.

Du Cange is one of the historians Edward Gibbon cites most frequently in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In one footnote he calls du Cange “our sure and indefatigable guide in the Middle Ages and Byzantine history.”

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