De bello Rhodio, libri tres, Clementi VII Pont. Max. dedicati.

Second edition of the account of the siege and conquest by the Ottomans of the island Rhodos in 1522, written by the lawyer Jacobus Fontanus (also Jacobo Fontano or Jacob Fonteyn; d. after 1538) from Bruges. The work is dedicated to Pope Clement VII.The Order of the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St. John, Maltese Knights) had participated in the crusades and in 1309 established itself on the island of Rhodes, which it turned into a bulwark of Christianity in the continued conflict with Islam (from the mid-14th century onward with the Ottoman Empire). Rhodes had withstood Ottoman sieges in 1460 and 1480. Sultan Mehmet II regarded Rhodes a pirate's nest, and in 1522 Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent dispatched a force reportedly 140000 men strong, which landed July 28th. The fortress of Rhodes held out for several months; the island, however, proved untenable. Starved, Grand Master Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle Adam surrendered 21 December 1522. On January 1st 1523 the Knights Hospitaller withdrew. In 1530, Emperor Charles V transferred the island of Malta to the Knights Hospitaller. With some small inscriptions in black ink on the title page, the binding is slightly rubbed, some slight water staining in the head margin, the edges of the leaves are sligthly frayed, and some occasional minor foxing and staining. Otherwise in very good condition.l Adams F-720; Brunet II 1330/1; Dekkers p. 57; Freeman, "Editions of Fontanus, De bello Rhodio", in: The Library, 5th series, 24 (1969), p. 336-9; Machiels F-182; Panzer VII 98.249; USTC 629057 (33 copies); VD16 F 1843 (16 copies). Modern gold- and blind-tooled calf, with the author and title lettered in gold on the front board. The title is set within a woodcut border, the woodcut printer's device can be found beneath the colophon on the recto of the last leaf, and with some woodcut decorated initials. Pages: [56] ll.…