Livio / Floro / Polibio - [Post-Incunable] Librorum Epitomae - 1521

Three works: Livy, Florus, and Polybius, published by Aldus Manutius, history as a teacher of life
Designed for a new generation of learned and cosmopolitan readers, this Aldine edition of 1521 gathers in a compact format three of the main sources of classical historiography: Tito Livio, Lucio Floro and Polibio, the latter in Niccolò Perotti’s Latin translation. The orderly layout, the use of italics and the agile structure fully reflect the pedagogical aesthetic of the Manuzio–Torresano house, which regarded the book as a vehicle of knowledge that is direct, functional and elegant. The work presents itself as a historical synthesis of Rome’s rise and the political-military evolution of the ancient Mediterranean, accessible, harmonious and scholastically useful, ideal for scholars, ambassadors and humanistic libraries. Provenienza: Sven Borgström.
Market value
The Aldine post-incunabula editions, especially those that collect fundamental texts, are highly valued by collectors. Complete and well-preserved copies, like this one, currently fetch between €1,500 and €3,000, with higher prices in the presence of contemporary decorated bindings, ancient handwritten notes, or refined provenance. The bookplate of Sven Borgström lends further collecting authority.

Physical description and condition
Full rigid parchment binding, with stains and signs of wear. Aldine woodcut mark on the title page and on the verso of the last leaf. Spaces for initials with guide letters, text in italics. Ancient marginal annotations, light scattered foxing. Pagination irregular but coherent: 1–56 (Livy), then 1–310 (Florus and Polybius), again Aldine at the colophon and a blank final leaf. Overall: (2); 310 leaves; 4 leaves unnumbered.

Full title and author
Epitomes of the books of Titus Livius Patavinus. Lucius Florus. Polybius's Histories, five books, translated into Latin, with Nicolaus Perotto as translator.
Venice: in the house of Aldi and Andreae, the father-in-law, 1521.
Livy – Lucius Florus – Polybius

Context and Significance
This elegant Aldine edition constitutes a sum of classical historiography, offered in portable and didactic form, as requested by the new audiences of the early fifteenth century: university students, tutors, court secretaries, ambassadors, and educated members of the clergy. The Epitomae of Livy briefly recap the vast Ab Urbe Condita, while Floro offers a brisk, almost epic narration of Roman greatness. The first five books of Polybius’s Histories, rendered into Latin by Perotti, enrich the panorama with historical and constitutional analysis of the Roman Republic, according to the model of the “useful history” typical of Greco-Hellenistic culture. The work—in form and content—reflects the Manuzian ambition of a book “to carry with you,” containing all the knowledge necessary to form civic spirit and political memory. Griffo’s italics, the sober layout and the compact editorial setup make this volume a perfect example of historiographical humanism in typographic form.

Author's Biography
Titus Livius (59 BC–AD 17), a historian from Padua, was the author of the monumental Ab Urbe Condita, a work in 142 books, of which only a portion has survived and there are numerous summaries.
Lucius Florus (2nd century A.D.), a Latin historian, wrote a celebratory compendium of Roman history from its origins to the Augustan age.
Polybius (c. 200–118 BC), a Greek historian, was the author of a vast Universal History in 40 books, focused on the expansion of Rome and the concept of political anacyclosis.
Niccolò Perotti (1429–1480), an Urbinate humanist, was one of the first grammarians to systematize medieval Latin and translated Greek texts with the aim of making them accessible to the Latin culture of his era.

Printing history and circulation
Printed in Venice in 1521 at the workshop of Aldus Manutius the Younger and Andrea Torresano, this edition sits within the editorial line that united formal compactness, readable italic, and the selection of the fundamental texts of classical antiquity. The format of multiple historiographical editions, already successfully experimented in Aldine production, aimed to provide complete tools for education and political reflection. The circulation was wide in the academies and in Italian and European university centers. The work remains one of the best-known examples of the Manuzian project of a “portable library” for the modern humanist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Renouard, Annales de l’imprimerie des Alde, pp. 98–99 – Adams L 1349 – Ahmanson-Murphy 193 – Nielsen, Aldus Manutius: The Venice Years – ISTC (comparisons of incunabula and Cinquecento editions) – Grafton, The Humanist as Reader – Lowry, The World of Aldus Manutius – Davies, Aldus Manutius: Printer and Publisher of Renaissance Venice.