BUONFIGLIO E COSTANZO, Giuseppe.

£2,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

.First edition of this history of Sicily by the Sicilian-born soldier and native of Messina Giuseppe Buonfiglio et Costanzo (1547-1622), from the library of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1655-1716), the great Scottish bibliophile, politician and adventurer. This edition is divided into two parts, beginning with Sicily s mythical origins and ending with the Turkish wars and the loss of Buda to the Ottomans in 1541; a third part was added by Buonfiglio in 1613. Andrew Fletcher claimed (dubiously) to have fought against the Turks during the recapture of Buda by Imperial troops in 1684. At the end is Buonfiglio s funerary oration for King Philip II of Spain, and his description of the miraculous deliverance of Messina from a terrible famine in 1603. . . ..Buonfiglio begins with the mythical origins of the island: its separation from the mainland and its imprisonment of the Titans or giants, its population of Cyclops and Laestrygonians, descendants of Poseidon, as well as Scylla and Charybdis. He discusses descriptions of the island by ancient geographers and historians including Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Thucydides, Tacitus, etc. However, these ancient and mythical accounts are intended simply to colour what is one of the earliest attempts to systematically describe the island, with numerical figures giving the populations of various towns and comprehensive lists describing the make-up of Sicilian society: ecclesiastical figures, noblemen, knights and other

• Binding: Hardcover

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