[Rarebooks] William of Tyre's History of the Crusades

[Garry R Austin]

We offer for your consideration;
William of Tyre. HISTORIA DELLA GUERRA SACRA DI GIERUSALEMME. DELLA TERRA DI PROMISSIONE, E QUASI DI TUTTA LA SORIA RICUPERATA DA’CHRISTIANI: RACCOLTA IN XXIII. LIBRI, DA GUGLIELMO ARCIVESCOVO DI TIRO & GRAN CANCELIERI DEL REGNO DI GIERUSALEMME... Venice: Antonio Pinelli, 1610. Octavo. Contemporary full vellum. 8, (16), 615pp.  with index and colophon. Signatures: a4, b8, A-Pp8, Qq4. Woodcut printer’s device on the title page. Translation of William of Tyre, “Historia Rerum In Partibus Transmarinis Gestarum.” First published in Venice in 1562 by Vincenzo Valgrisi. Index precedes text. Translated into the Italian by Giuseppe Orologi. Edited by Carles Baldassar. A very good copy. A damp stain in the upper left corner affects the first sixteen pages. Joint  is just barely starting at spine edge. A supple copy, nicely printed. OCLC locates ten copies in North America and Copac lists three others in European institutions. There are no copies available of this edition currently being offered in trade listings. Orologi’s translation is the first into Italian of the most important contemporary account of the first and second Crusades. The author produced this work on the Crusades at the request of Almaric I in about 1170 and was continued until 1183. The chronicle is sometimes given the title Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum ("History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea") or Historia Ierosolimitana ("History of Jerusalem"), or the Historia for short. Although he deals at length with the First Crusade William's history becomes of particular importance for the years after 1144 and the time of the Second Crusade. Because it is the only source for the history of twelfth-century Jerusalem written by a native, historians have often assumed that William's statements could be taken at face value. However, more recent historians have shown that William's involvement in the kingdom's political disputes resulted in obvious biases in his account. Despite this, he is considered the greatest chronicler of the crusades, and one of the best authors of the Middle Ages.  $1250.00


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Garry R Austin
mail at austinsbooks.com
Austin's Antiquarian Books
PO Box 730
Wilmington, VT 05363
802 464-8438