Thucydides - De Bello Peloponnesiaco - 1821

TUCIDIDE CONTRO LA GUERRA: MAGNIFICO ESEMPIO DI STAMPA DELL'UNIVERSITÀ DI OXFORD
Magnificent oxonian edition of the masterpiece by Thucydides, considered the greatest political historian of antiquity.
The Oxford University Press was born thanks to the initiative of Archbishop William Laud, who in 1636 obtained royal statutes for the University, allowing it to establish a council of scholars (the Delegates of the Press). This committee still oversees the quality of publications today.
Edited by the celebrated German philologist Immanuel Bekker and published in Oxford in 1821 in four elegant volumes, this edition represents one of the pillars of the revival of classical studies in the 19th century. The work recounts the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, but its importance goes beyond mere historical narrative: Thucydides analyzes power, diplomacy, propaganda, fear and ambition with a clarity that continues to influence historians, strategists, diplomats and statesmen. The exemplar preserves a refined contemporary leather binding in full marbled leather, typical of English academic publishing of the era.
MARKET VALUE
The editions of Immanuel Bekker constitute a reference point in the history of modern classical philology. The complete four-volume copies of this 1821 edition are relatively less common on the market than later academic reissues. Complete specimens in well-preserved contemporary leather bindings are generally found between €800 and €1,200, with higher results for particularly fresh copies or institutional provenance.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Four volumes. Elegant contemporary English full leather binding with decorations and tooling on the spines, red and black leather spine labels with titling. Greek text accompanied by the annotations of Duker and Wasse. Some foxing on pages. Signs of age to bindings and some wear to the crowns and corners. Boards partially detached, front board of the first volume completely detached. In ancient books with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp.:
(2); 2nn; 22; 544; (2).
(2); 4nn; 478; (2).
(2); 4nn; 306; 58nn; (2).
(2); 4nn; 524; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
De Bello Peloponnesiaco Libri Octo.
Oxonii, Apud J. Parker et R. Bliss; Londini, apud G. et W. B. Whittaker; Cantabrigiae, apud J. Deighton et Fil., 1821.
Thucydides.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) represented the greatest conflict of the ancient Greek world and marked the definitive decline of Athenian hegemony. Thucydides, who participated personally in the events as an Athenian general, composed a work revolutionary in method and analytical depth. For the first time in Western historiography, events are studied through political, economic and psychological causes rather than through divine intervention. The so-called “Melian Dialogue” is famously renowned, still today, as one of the founding texts of political realism and of modern international relations. The work is read and studied in military academies, geopolitics courses and diplomatic schools around the world.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Thucydides was born in Athens around 460 B.C. and likely died after 400 B.C. An aristocrat, general and historian, he was exiled during the war after the loss of Amphipolis. This event allowed him to observe the conflict from a privileged perspective and to gather testimonies from both sides. His History of the Peloponnesian War is considered one of the absolute masterworks of world historiography and one of the most influential texts of Western culture.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The 1821 edition belongs to the great season of German and English philology. Immanuel Bekker (1785-1871), one of the most important classical scholars of the 19th century, revolutionized the critical method applied to Greek texts through systematic manuscript comparison. This Oxonian publication presents the Greek text established by Bekker together with the ancient scholia and the famous annotations of Karl Andreas Duker and Isaac Wasse, essential tools for academic study of Thucydides. For much of the 19th century, this was one of the reference editions in European universities.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE EDITOR
Immanuel Bekker (1785-1871) was one of the leading German philologists of the modern era. A professor in Berlin and a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, he devoted his life to the critical reconstruction of Greek texts. His name remains famous especially for the numbering of Aristotle’s works, still universally used by scholars. His editions of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides and the Attic orators marked a decisive turning point in European scientific philology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, V, entry "Thucydide".
Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux, VI, pp. 41-44.
Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, pp. 1049-1055.
Dibdin, An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, II, pp. 503-507.
Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, III, pp. 72-79.
Oxford University Press Archives, cataloghi delle edizioni classiche del primo Ottocento.
WorldCat, bibliographic records of the Oxford 1821 edition.
British Library Catalogue, Thucydides, Oxford, 1821.
Library of Congress Catalogue, Bekker edition of 1821.