Wars during the reign of Justinian, initials by Urs Graf, 1531

Procopius Caesariensis:

De rebus Gothorum, Persarum ac Vandalorum libri VII.

Basel, Johannes Herwagen, 1531. Folio. (30 x 20 cms.) [48] + 692; + 52 pp. (irregular pagination in the final part). Quire with six (slightly darkened) leaves of the final part loosely laid in, supplied from another copy. Woodcut printer’s device on title and at the end. Woodcut initials by Urs Graf.

Later worn half leather, spine defective, title very slightly soiled and inscribed, small ink stain to leaf a2r, near-contemporary annotations in ink, especially in the beginning.

First Latin edition of Procopius’s main historical works, called the "History of the Wars", the most important source for information about the reign of the emperor Justinian in the mid-6th century, containing the Persian Wars, the Vandal War (describing the conquest of the Vandal kingdom in Africa), the Gothic War (narrating the war against the Ostrogoths in Sicily and Italy).

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