4to. (VIII),LXXXVII,(1 blank), 316 p. Contemporary boards. 28 cm (Ref: Hoffmann 2,510 (Laurentius); Brunet 3,880; Graesse 4,122; Ebert 12557) (Details: 1 of the 100 quarto copies, on wove paper and with broad margins. Gilt black shield on the back. Greek text with parallel Latin translation) (Condition: Binding scuffed. Back chafed and discoloured, and slightly damaged at the head. 2 library bookplates on the front pastedown. Some slight foxing) (Note: Johannes Laurentius Lydus was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, hence the cognomen Lydus. He came to Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Anastasius (ca. 510) to make a career in the central administration. For 40 year he was 'Praefectus Praetorio', for the greater part under the Emperor Justinian. The language of the administration of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire was still Latin at this time, and Lydus repeatedly emphasizes his bilingualism in his surviving works, which are written in ancient Greek. Ca. 543 he was appointed to the chair of Latin-rhetoric at the 'University' of Constantinople. In 552 Lydos retired. He died between 565 and 578. Among his lost literary works is a history of Justinian's campaign against the Persian Sassanids. His 3 surviving Greek works are not great literature, but they throw light on Roman history and religion. 'De Ostentis', 'On Prodigies', is a treatise on all sorts of signs and and portents, e.g. thunder and lightning, and earthquakes, compiled from ancient astrologic works. 'De Mensibus' is a compilation of material on the Roman calender and pagan festivals. His most important work is 'De Magistratibus reipublicae Romanae', on the civil service of the Roman empire. It offers valuable information concerning Roman burocracy up to Justinian. § These works were regarded as lost, until, we are told in the 'Prologus', the French scholar J.B.C. d'Ansse de Villoison discovered in 1784 on a visit to Constantinople a manuscript of it. The manuscript was thereupon presented by the Greek prince Constantine Morusi to Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Choiseul then lent the manuscript to the discoverer in order to publish it. Nothing came however of an edition because of turmoils of the French revolution, (regni Gallici eversione et subito casu, quo Europa omnis contremit, nullus Lydo locus superat), and because of the premature and sudden death of Villoison in 1805. (p. LXIII/IV) Choiseul then directed the young scholar Carl Benedikt Hase (in French Charles Benoît Hase), 1780-1864, to produce an edition. In 1801 Hase had travelled on foot to Paris, where he began his studies Greek under Villoison, who introduced him also into his literary circle. (domum ejus frenquentavi, (...) per aliquot annos continuos sermonum auditor). (p. LXVI) After the request of Choiseul Hase asked his friend, the young scholar Dominicus Fuss, 1782-1860, also of German origin, who was fluent in Latin, to make a transcription and a Latin translation (cura describendi vertendique), of 'De magistratibus'. Fuss also amended (emendavit) the Greek text. Hase himself wrote the 'Prologus', a learned dissertation on the times, life and writings of Lydus. The edition was welcomed by the famous German ancient historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr as a new and rich source of Roman history. Hase, who was appointed professor of Palaeography at the 'École Royale' in 1816, devoted himself to Byzantine literature and history. In 1823 he produced an edition of Lydus' 'De ostentis', which is considered a masterpiece of textual criticism) (Provenance: Pictorial bookplate, 'Ex libris Collegii Sanctae Mariae de Oscott' pasted on the front pastedown. Saint Mary's College at New Oscott, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England, and one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. See for this huge college, which was founded in 1794, Wikipedia's 'St Mary's College, Oscott') (Collation: pi4, a-k4, chi4 (leaf chi4 verso blank), 1-39/4, 40/2) (Photographs on request)