Gli Otto Libri di Thucydide Atheniese, delle Guerre Fatte tra Popoli della Morea, et gli Atheniesi ... tradotto, per Francesco di Soldo Strozzi Fiorentino [= The Eight Books of Thucydides of Athens, on the War made between the People of Morea, and the Athenians ... translated by Francesco di Soldo Strozzi the Florentine]

Venetia [= Venice]: Vincenzo Vaugris [= Vincenzo Valgrisi], 1545. First Italian edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Small 8vo. [24], 440, [1] pp. Every other text page paginated. Recent (early 20th century) tan paper-covered boards. Title page with publisher's device, woodcut initials, final page of text with publisher's device on the reverse. Translated from the Italian on the title page: "With annotations and explanations of the historical places, and most detailed, alphabetized tables of all the wars, the peace agreements, the alliances formed, the naval battles, the daily events, the cities taken, the portents predicted, and the leveled, burned, destroyed places that are recorded in history." Translated from the Greek into the Tuscan language by Francesco di Soldo Strozzi Fiorentino. A Manual of Classical Bibliography, Joseph Moss, 700. The Oxford Classical Dictionary 1134; 1516-1521. The first edition in Italian. Moss records this imprint as the first edition in Italian and writes that it has been reprinted several times, both with and without dates. Adams records an undated Venetian imprint from Baldassar de Constantini (Adams T-684), but not the Venetian Valgrisi imprint (the Constantini imprint recorded by Adams shares the same collation as the Valgrisi imprint). Thucydides' Peloponnesian War is one of the first written histories, dependent on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, to be produced in the Western world. The work is divided into several parts: an introductory book, a section on The Ten Years War (focused on the conflict between Athens and Corinth), the peace that followed this war (The Peace of Nicias), the Sicilian War, the Plague that struck Athens, with the last book (Book 8) a portion of Thucydides history on the Decelean War. Thucydides intended his histories to describe the events that directly follow the ones recorded by Herodotus. He began writing the books soon after the Peloponnesian War started, and recorded several of the events soon after they happened. From his 20s to his 50s, Thucydides worked on his histories, and the work reflects his changing perspective over time. His scientific, exacting approach to describing the causes of the war and the fall of Athens, along with his brief and concise prose all help his work to stand apart from the other historical writings of Classical Antiquity. Binding is Near Fine with two tiny splits to the paper over the joints, leaves rarely show foxing with one or two corners missing, not affecting the text, marginal annotations, or the catch words. Overall a nice, clean copy.