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MELA, Pomponius (fl. 43 A.D.) Cosmographia, sive De situ orbis. Venice: Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn, 1478.
Chancery 4o (203 x 141 mm). Collation: a-f8 (a1r author's proemium, text, f8v colophon). 48 leaves. 26 lines, printed marginalia. Headings printed in red. Roman type: 5:109. 6-, 5- and 4-line white-on-black woodcut initials. (a1.8 and f1.8 reinforced along fold, loss of a few letters on a1 and a2 from small wormtrack which has been filled on a1, few discreetly filled marginal wormtracks in the first quire, some light marginal soiling and worming.) Modern stiff paper wrappers; cloth folding case. Provenance: purchased from D. & E. Lake, Toronto, 3 August 1993.
Fourth edition. Mela's text is the earliest surviving Latin work on geography and the only Roman treatise devoted exclusively to that subject. The book exerted a considerable influence on later authors, partly through the extensive citations in Pliny. "Despite his general inferiority as a geographer, Pomponius knew more than Strabo about the positions of Britain, Ireland, and the coasts of Gaul and north Germany; he was also the first to mention the Orkney Islands" (DSB). HC *11017; BMC V, 195 (IA. 19867); BSB-Ink. P-686; CIBN M-282; Harvard/Walsh 1614-15; Klebs 675.4; Pr 4174; Goff M-450.
Chancery 4o (203 x 141 mm). Collation: a-f8 (a1r author's proemium, text, f8v colophon). 48 leaves. 26 lines, printed marginalia. Headings printed in red. Roman type: 5:109. 6-, 5- and 4-line white-on-black woodcut initials. (a1.8 and f1.8 reinforced along fold, loss of a few letters on a1 and a2 from small wormtrack which has been filled on a1, few discreetly filled marginal wormtracks in the first quire, some light marginal soiling and worming.) Modern stiff paper wrappers; cloth folding case. Provenance: purchased from D. & E. Lake, Toronto, 3 August 1993.
Fourth edition. Mela's text is the earliest surviving Latin work on geography and the only Roman treatise devoted exclusively to that subject. The book exerted a considerable influence on later authors, partly through the extensive citations in Pliny. "Despite his general inferiority as a geographer, Pomponius knew more than Strabo about the positions of Britain, Ireland, and the coasts of Gaul and north Germany; he was also the first to mention the Orkney Islands" (DSB). HC *11017; BMC V, 195 (IA. 19867); BSB-Ink. P-686; CIBN M-282; Harvard/Walsh 1614-15; Klebs 675.4; Pr 4174; Goff M-450.