25 - [RENÉ DE MAS LATRIE]: CHRONIQUES D’AMADI ET DE STRAMBALDI. PARIS, 1891-1893

[RENÉ DE MAS LATRIE]: CHRONIQUES D’AMADI ET DE STRAMBALDI. PARIS, 1891-1893 First edition, in large 4to, two volumes in one, contemporary red leather over marbled boards preserving both chronicles original publishers paper covers, complete both chronicles for Cyprus: 533p. (Amadi 1891), 340p. (Strambaldi 1893), text clean and bright, in almost mind condition. A unique combination of two very important primary medieval sources for Cyprus, both in first edition. The scientific publication was made under the supervision of the son Mas Latrie by the academic Imprimerie Nationale, although his father worked on the documents for years before his death. The chronicle of Amadi (which took its name from the Venetian collector who owned in the mid 16th century the anonymous manuscript compiled around 1450) is written in Italian and acts as a massive historical compilation covering the Cypriot history from 1095 to 1445. It is heavily based on lost or fragmented earlier French Crusader texts. It is highly prized by modern historians because it provides a unique account of the complex political struggles in Cyprus in the early 14th century. The second chronicle features the writings of Diomede Strambaldi, a 15th century writer who lived in Cyprus and is an Italian translation and continuation of the famous chronicle written by Leontios Machairas. It serves as a vital cross reference for Machaira's chronicle and it is a crucial linguistic bridge that allows historians to verify the administrative terminology and names sometimes obscured in surviving Greek manuscripts. Very valuable primary sources for Cypriot history and of the utmost rarity.