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Small 4° (218x131 mm). Printed on blue paper. XIX, [1], 131, [1] pages. Woodcut headpiece and decorated initial on fol. A2r. Fine contemporary, possibly French, red straight-grain morocco, over pasteboards. Covers within triple gilt fillet. Spine with five small raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt with diagonal of dotted fillets, small floral tools, and dots. Title in gold on red morocco lettering-piece. Marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, board edges gilt ruled, inside dentelles. Green silk bookmark. Yellow edges. A very good, wide-margined copy, printed on strong paper, and reglé throughout in red ink. A few minor spots; some leaves slightly browned and waterstained on the lower margin. Small tear to the lower margin of fol. A5, without any loss.The first edition of the Chronicon Venetum, a significant medieval source for Venetian history. This Chronicle of Venice was written in the early eleventh century, and its composition is generally attributed to Ioannes Diaconus. The Chronicon was edited by the antiquarian Girolamo Francesco Zanetti (1723-1782) on the basis of a manuscript then in the possession of the Venetian scholar Apostolo Zeno (1669-1750), whose textual version was collated with two codices preserved in the Vatican Library. The work enjoyed lasting popularity; counting among its legacy of readers was the especially noteworthy English critic and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900), who referenced the Chronicon Venetum in his celebrated work on Venetian art and architecture, The Stones of Venice, which first appeared in 1851.Cicogna 583; B. Rosada, "Il Chronicon Venetum di Giovanni Diacono", Ateneo veneto, 28 (1990), pp. 79-94; Ioannes Diaconus, La cronaca veneziana, ed. M. De Biasi, Venezia 1986-1988; Philobiblon, One Thousand Years of Bibliophily, no. 242. Seller Inventory # 0000000008388
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