TOYNBEE, A.,
Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his World.
Oxford University Press, London (...), 1973. XIX,768p. Original blue gilt titled cloth with dust wrps. Dust wrps slightly worn to the edges. Signature on free endpaper. 'It is a 'mega biblion' in ervery sense of the word. An adequate appraisal, even a 'compte rendu', would have to run to many pages ot cover the vast filed of information offered. (...) Not hte least of the uses of this remarkable book will be found to lie in the 'dépouillement' and extended analysis of the sources, sometimes amounting almost to a complete translation of them. No other book in English gives such full, systematic, and analytical accounts or paraphrases of such works as the Book of the Prefect, the Farmer's Law, the ''De Thematibus', or the various treatises on tactics and strategy, to name only a few. Like the works of Constantine VII himself, this book will constantly be consulted for the walth of its detailed information. It verges on the encyclopaedic in its scope; but it is an encyclopaedia informed and illumined by a most exceptional learning and historical insight.There are several appendices to the chapters and four Annexes at the end of the work.' (D.M. NICOL in The Classical Review (New Series), 1975, pp.309-310).
€ 185.00
(Antiquarian)