Lot 00053 |
GIACOMO LOREDANO: Historie de Re Lusignani. Venice 1651
Second edition of a chronicle of the Lusignan dynasty in Cyprus, covering the late 12th to late 15th centuries.
In 12mo (15 × 9 cm). Contemporary full vellum, soiled and worn; some vellum missing from upper cover. Contemporary 17th-century manuscript reference on spine (Libre di Cipro with ornament). Early ownership inscriptions on first flyleaves. Some scattered dampstaining; otherwise, text clean and bright. Overall a good, solid copy.
Loredano (1607–1661), a Venetian nobleman,
claimed Cypriot descent in his introduction, likely from one of the noble families that formed the ruling class during Lusignan rule and left Cyprus after the Turkish conquest in the late 16th century.
His chronicle is highly informative and appears to draw extensively on Venetian archival material concerning Cyprus, still abundant in the early 17th century, and possibly even earlier Lusignan records.
An early and scarce work on Cyprus.