Details
HYGINUS Mythographus (fl. 1st century A.D.). Poeticon astronomicon. Eds. Jacobus Sentinus and Johannes Lucilius Santritter. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 14th October 1482.
Chancery 4° (190 x 137mm). Collation: a-f8 g10 (a1 blank, a2r dedication to M. Fabius [Quintilianus?], incipit: Etsi Te Studio grammaticae artis inductum, a3r text, incipit: De Mundo et Sphaera. Mundus appellatur, g9r-10r Jacobus Sentinus's commendatory verse, g10r verse colophon by Santritter, g10v blank). 58 leaves. Gothic types 7:92 (headings) and 3:91 (text), 91 Greek (a few words). 31 lines. First heading printed in red. White-on-black woodcut initials (3-11 lines); 47 fine half-page woodcuts, probably designed by Santritter, showing the constellation and planet figures. (Small stain on first and last leaf.) 18th-century vellum. Provenance: unidentified early inscription on last page; Sir George Shuckburgh (armorial bookplate).
Second, but FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. The cuts are the first printed reproductions of the ancient tradition of constellation figures. The author is often misidentified as Caius Julius Hyginus, librarian of the Palatine Library and friend of Ovid's. Hyginus the mythographer's manual of astronomy is based on Greek sources, particularly Aratos's Phaenomena. FINE COPY. HC *9062; Pr 4387; BMC V, 286; Goff H-560; IGI 4959; Sander 3472; Essling 285; Klebs 527.2.
Chancery 4° (190 x 137mm). Collation: a-f8 g10 (a1 blank, a2r dedication to M. Fabius [Quintilianus?], incipit: Etsi Te Studio grammaticae artis inductum, a3r text, incipit: De Mundo et Sphaera. Mundus appellatur, g9r-10r Jacobus Sentinus's commendatory verse, g10r verse colophon by Santritter, g10v blank). 58 leaves. Gothic types 7:92 (headings) and 3:91 (text), 91 Greek (a few words). 31 lines. First heading printed in red. White-on-black woodcut initials (3-11 lines); 47 fine half-page woodcuts, probably designed by Santritter, showing the constellation and planet figures. (Small stain on first and last leaf.) 18th-century vellum. Provenance: unidentified early inscription on last page; Sir George Shuckburgh (armorial bookplate).
Second, but FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. The cuts are the first printed reproductions of the ancient tradition of constellation figures. The author is often misidentified as Caius Julius Hyginus, librarian of the Palatine Library and friend of Ovid's. Hyginus the mythographer's manual of astronomy is based on Greek sources, particularly Aratos's Phaenomena. FINE COPY. HC *9062; Pr 4387; BMC V, 286; Goff H-560; IGI 4959; Sander 3472; Essling 285; Klebs 527.2.