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Details
PETRUS APIANUS (1495-1552)
Cosmographia, sive descriptio universi orbis ... Adjecti sunt alii ... tractatus ac libelli varii. Antwerp: Jean Withaye for Joannes Beller, 1584. 4° (240 x 165mm). Woodcut vignette on title. Double-page woodcut map by Gemma Frisius [Shirley The Mapping of the World 96]. Woodcut illustrations and diagrams, some full-page, those on C2v, D1r, I1r, and 2A2v with volvelles. Letterpress tables. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Variable browning, light dampstaining, a few leaves with neat marginal repairs, a little wormed, leaves I1 and 2A2 supplied from a smaller copy, lacking volvelle on C3v.) Contemporary vellum gilt, the boards panelled in gilt and with a central flower-vase stamp, the spine gilt in compartments, lettered in ink in one, another with an early paper lettering-piece with manuscript title (some wear and worming, neat repairs to pastedowns, later front free endpaper).
IN ITS LATER FORM, AS MODIFIED BY GEMMA FRISIUS, THE COSMOGRAPHIA WAS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR TEXTS OF THE TIME AND WAS TRANSLATED INTO ALL MAJOR EUROPEAN LANGUAGES' (DSB I, p.179). Apianus's Cosmographia was first published in 1524: 'starting with the distinction between cosmography, geography, and chorography, and using an ingenious and simple diagram, the book defines terrestrial grids; describes the use of maps and simple surveying; defines weather and climate; and provides thumbnail sketches of the continents' (DSB, loc. cit.). Editions published from 1544 onwards included a cordiform world map by Gemma Frisius; three states of this map have been identified by Shirley, of which this copy is the second. Two issues of this edition of the Cosmographia were printed at Antwerp by Withaye in 1584; the present issue, and another which bore Withaye's name alone on the title-page imprint. Adams A-1286; Belgica typographica 1541-1600 142; Houzeau and Lancaster 2392; John Carter Brown I, p.299; van Ortroy Bibliographie de l'oeuvre de Pierre Appian 59.
Cosmographia, sive descriptio universi orbis ... Adjecti sunt alii ... tractatus ac libelli varii. Antwerp: Jean Withaye for Joannes Beller, 1584. 4° (240 x 165mm). Woodcut vignette on title. Double-page woodcut map by Gemma Frisius [Shirley The Mapping of the World 96]. Woodcut illustrations and diagrams, some full-page, those on C2v, D1r, I1r, and 2A2v with volvelles. Letterpress tables. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Variable browning, light dampstaining, a few leaves with neat marginal repairs, a little wormed, leaves I1 and 2A2 supplied from a smaller copy, lacking volvelle on C3v.) Contemporary vellum gilt, the boards panelled in gilt and with a central flower-vase stamp, the spine gilt in compartments, lettered in ink in one, another with an early paper lettering-piece with manuscript title (some wear and worming, neat repairs to pastedowns, later front free endpaper).
IN ITS LATER FORM, AS MODIFIED BY GEMMA FRISIUS, THE COSMOGRAPHIA WAS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR TEXTS OF THE TIME AND WAS TRANSLATED INTO ALL MAJOR EUROPEAN LANGUAGES' (DSB I, p.179). Apianus's Cosmographia was first published in 1524: 'starting with the distinction between cosmography, geography, and chorography, and using an ingenious and simple diagram, the book defines terrestrial grids; describes the use of maps and simple surveying; defines weather and climate; and provides thumbnail sketches of the continents' (DSB, loc. cit.). Editions published from 1544 onwards included a cordiform world map by Gemma Frisius; three states of this map have been identified by Shirley, of which this copy is the second. Two issues of this edition of the Cosmographia were printed at Antwerp by Withaye in 1584; the present issue, and another which bore Withaye's name alone on the title-page imprint. Adams A-1286; Belgica typographica 1541-1600 142; Houzeau and Lancaster 2392; John Carter Brown I, p.299; van Ortroy Bibliographie de l'oeuvre de Pierre Appian 59.
Provenance
Early inscriptions on title, scored through or partially erased.
Occasional early annotations and underscorings.
'WL' (owner's inkstamp with the monogram above a cordiform image of a lion's head).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-21).
Occasional early annotations and underscorings.
'WL' (owner's inkstamp with the monogram above a cordiform image of a lion's head).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-21).
Special notice
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