Antoine Maria Gratiani. Histoire de la
Guerre de Chypre. Navigation Page.
Histoire de la Guerre de Chypre
(History of the War of Cyprus)
by Antoine Maria
Gratiani
Published in Paris
by André Palard
in M. DC. LXXXV.
(1685)
A
rare and
much sought-after copy of the Gratiani's ( aka Graziani )
History of Cyprus. The book is whole
leather bound with five rising spines on the back, gilt on the back, moucheté
edges, marbled endpapers, 26 x 20 cm, 10 1/2 x 8 inches, 414 pages. The
overall condition is good but not fine : leather is rubbed with little pieces
of missing, the top of the back before the first spine has no leather anymore
and the title label is gone, half of the endpapers are missing and there are
worm bites going from page 163 to the end. They never affect the text and
always stay marginal but they go on three of the copper plates; nothing
serious though (see tiny holes on top edge of page 6). The work
starts with a superb plate showing the map of Cyprus on a fleece and with the Carpas
peninsula pointing westwards. (see picture on
page 1). The title page has a nice allegorical motto and some ancient
manuscript notes on the author preceded by a cross of Malta. Each part of the
work (five books) begins with a page enhanced with a remarkable ornate letter
and a copper engraving showing scenes in reference to the war of
Cyprus. These copper plates are superb, well detailed and printed with care. The
book ends with a useful table of contents.
Famous work firstly written in Latin by the Tuscan
Antoine Maria Gratiani (1537-1611) who was Secretary of the Cardinal Commendon
and later of Sixte-Quint. Bishop of Amelia, Legate of Venice, he has written
some other works in a refined and elegant Latin : De Casibus virorum
illustrium, a biography of Commendon and De Bello Cyprio (1624). This is the
first and only edition -- but the reprint in 1979 -- of the translation into
French by Le Peletier. The work describes the island and tells in detail the
events of the war. A Turkish invading force landed in Cyprus in 1570 and
captured Nicosia and Kyrenia; the following year Famagusta fell after a long
siege. Ottoman rule lasted more than three centuries.
I am no novice in engravings
and books about Cyprus but, until now, I was not aware that Graziani's book
was translated into French two years before it was done in English by Midgley.
Whilst Midgley' s translation is available in Cambridge (U.K.) library and a
few libraries in the States, NO copy of the present volume is available in ANY
library in the world; not even in France. Which makes my copy pretty rare;
very rare in fact. But read no more, click on the
pages that follow and enjoy the plates; you won't see them elsewhere.
Price: CyP 2,600.00
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