[Incunable] - Ptolemaeus Cl. Cosmographia. Rome, 1490.
Item Number: 25078 Authenticity Guarantee
172ff (of 174, lacking initial and final blanks), 53 lines and headline, double column, with blank leaves E6, a1 and h4 present, 27 double-page engraved maps, all with partial colour wash, maps 1,7,9,11,12,14,15,16,25 and 27 with small repair patches to verso, 16th century calf, binding rebound preserving the old leather with the original panels, gilt arabesque to covers, occasional spotting to text and maps. Tall copy (42 x 49 cm)
Fifth edition of Ptolemy's text, fourth edition with maps, third edition with copper-engravings.
The text was first published in 1475 in Vicenza, followed by the first edition with copper-engraved maps, in Bologna, 1477. Conrad Sweynheim and Arnold Buckinck published the second illustrated edition (again with copper-engraved maps) in Rome, 1478. Two editions were published in Germany, in Ulm 1482 and 1486, with woodcut maps by Leonard Hol and Johannes Reger respectively. These editions were succeded by the present Rome edition, the second appearance of the Sweynheim and Buckinck copper engravings.
According to Brunet these plates are the most beautiful of all the editions of Ptolemy.
The text is printed in double columns and is a very fine example of Italian printing..
Christopher Colombus owned a copy of this atlas which he fully annotated.
With the bookplates of Henry Stevens, L.W. Hodson (his sale 1906) and George Dunn.
Goff P-1086; Sabin 66474; Shirley (Brit.Lib.) T.Ptol-2c