SANSOVINO FRANCESCO: HISTORIA UNIVERSALE DELL ORIGINE ET IMPERIO DE TURCHI. VENEZIA 1568 Second, expanded, edition, following the first in 1561. Large Quarto, rare contemporary publisher hard cover trimmed,spine and down cover missing,complete, generally somehow destabilized although holding still firm, text mostly clean and fully readable but with some wear,mostly scattered marginal water stain or uniform foxing in few pages,overall actually in good minus state and in need for a rebinding after almost 500 years. Francesco Sansovino’s Historia Universale dell Origine et Imperio de Turchi is a significant work of Renaissance historiography, it appeared at a time when Europe was deeply preoccupied with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, just three years before the Battle of Lepanto. Sansovino was a prolific Venetian writer his work was one of the most popular Turkish histories of the 16th century because it synthesized many scattered sources into a single, readable narrative.It provides a wealth of valuable information for the Greeks under Ottoman or Venetian rule.In this edition, Sansovino significantly increased the detail regarding the internal administration and the military structure of the Ottoman state. It provided Europeans with a behind the curtain look at how the Ottoman Empire functioned and as many other works of this era, it includes discussions of prophecies regarding the eventual fall of the Turks, which was a major theme in Christian propaganda at the time. Printed in a clean Roman type, typical of mid-century Venetian presses.It is highly valued because it represents the pre-Lepanto European perspective,a mix of fear, curiosity, and grudging respect for Ottoman efficiency.It is also historically important because it served as a source for later English historians, such as Richard Knolles.By the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Sansovino's history was further expanded by other editors,like Geronimo Bardi. However, this 1568 edition is preferred as the work is in the original, enlarged form by the author, before it became a massive, multi-author compilation in the 1600s.A very early mid 16th century account.