Angelicus, Bartholomeus
De proprietatibus rerum
Nuremberg, May 30, 1483.(Hain-c 2506; BMC II, 425; Goff B-137).In folio; contemporary half vellum over wooden boards. Rests of clasps, 268 leaves (complete including first & last blanks), text in two columns, partly rubricated.Minor, marginal restorations to first six and last ten leaves.Good, original copy of the book.
Anglicus encyclopedia of (mediaeval) knowledge, written for the common people, was highly popular and successful (this is its eighth edition, the first by Koberger). The first edition appeared in 1470. It treats natural history, geography, medicine, cosmology, metereology, medicine, music etc etc.
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Sacrobosco, J. de
Sphaera Mundi
Peuerbachs: Theoricae Novae PLanetarum ; Regiomontanus: Disputatio. Venice, Ratdolt 1485 (BMC V nr 290; Goff J 406; Honeyman 2720; Kenney 156) - Small in quarto (20.8 x 14.5 cm) ; later suede leather (circa 1930), later free endpapers (4 in XVII century paper) ; 58 leaves 1-6 in 8; 7 in 10 ; full page woodcut in verso of leaf 1 ; woodcut initials & 61 diagrams in the text ; seven (of those) diagrams, with inprinted colour. Small hole in upper margin of part of the book with old restoration. C 4 with larger tear, no loss, old restoration. Tiny puncture all through the book in central part of all pages, hardly visible. Extensive contemporary marginal notes in first part, some later marginal notes elsewhere.
Second Venice edition (first 1482) of this classical text on astronomy. It was written around 1220 by the Englishman John Holy Wood, who was then teaching at the Sorbonne. Its astromomy was based on Prolemy. " It was accepted as a fundamental astronomy text first at the University of Paris, then throughout Europe until as late as the XVII century" (Kenney 156). The other two textst: Peuerbachs Theoricae and Regiomontanus Disputationes also belong to the canon of essential astronomical texts.
It is not only an early copy of Sacroboscos De Sphaera but it is also (and for expositions important) the first printed book to use multicoloured diagrams (Kenney 156). These diagrams were clearly not coloured by hand but by a printing process. Honeyman, nr 2720, speaks of "seven diagrams partly printed with colours". That description is right and (I think) untill now unnoticed: this book is the first book with printed colours. Printing came early to Venice, where by 1476 the pioneering printer and typographer Erhard Ratdolt of Augsburg had settled and begun publishing. Ratdolt was just one of many printers, at first predominantly German, who converged on Venice, where by the end of the century there were more than 150 active presses. Ratdolt had a particular interest in scientific and mathematical publications, which he made more attractive and often more informative through the addition of ornamental printed initial letters, diagrams, and the use of color printing, all of which are seen in his Sphaera Mundi of 1485 . (Heilbrunn: time line of art history. Metropolitan Museum, New York) In the previous Sacrobosco edition by Ratdolt colouring was done by hand. In that edition 8 plates were coloured (Quaritch, catalogue 1378, item 22. 2009). The process that was used seems to be separate woodblocks, heavily "inked" with colour and than pressed into the area that needed to be coloured. You can actually see the shape of the stamp, just missing (at times) the circumference of what was to be coloured. You can also see the accumulated colour being pressed through the printed area in verso.
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Schedel
Liber Chronicarum
Nurnberg, Koberger, July 12, 1493. (Hain 14508; Goff, S 307; Sabin 77523; Church 7). Imperial folio (bookblock 45,3 x 30,5 cm) ; in slightly later, full vellum binding. Title, 19 nn leaves; 300 leaves (including three original blanks 259-261); 5 nn leaves (description Samartia/Poland) Total 325 leaves (lacks last blank) ; initials, not filled in ; two folding, woodcut maps (World; Europe) ; 1806 woodcuts from 645 blocks (Cockerells count) by Wohlgemut , his alumnus Durer and his stepson Pleydenwurff.
Title remargined and rebacked, not affecting text. Most leaves thumbed. Small, marginal tears, especially in the lower margin, never affecting the text or plates, as a result of leafing. Brown stain on some leaves, (last leaves index; VII; worldmap; XXXII-XXXVII; CCXL; CCLXII). Tiny wurmholes in CCLXIII & CCLXIIII. Unwashed, wide margined near complete copy printed on strong and healthy paper (sounds upon leafing through the book) in uncommon good condition.
The Schedel is a history of the world by the German Renaissance doctor Hartmann Schedel and is illustrated with abundant woodcuts by Wohlgemut, Pleydendorf and Albrecht Durer. The book starts at creation, down to the year of publication. The book follows the traditional Jewish/ Old Testament based concept of world history. The passage of the alleged discovery of America by Behaim, a friend from Nuremberg, is found in verso of leaf CCXC . Sabin denies this claim (Sabin, L77532). The book contains a famous and very early world map (Shirley, 19). This world map was drawn after the Ptolemy worldmap of Pomponius Mela (Venice, 1488) It also contains, debatably, the first printed map of Europe (by H Munzer) and many double page city views (Jerusalem; Rome, Venice, Florence etc) that usually are the first printed images of these cities, some real, some imaginary. The Schedel also appears as an early Americana, for example in Harrisse Bibliotheca Americana (Harisse nr 13). There are two potential references to the discovery of America. One is a larger alinea in verso of leaf CCXC (290), talking about Behaims role in discovering new worlds for the King of Portugal and another more specific one in recto of leaf XIIII (14) : extra tres partes orbi: quarta es pars Transoceanus....etc
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Lilius, Zacharias
De origine et laudibus scientiarum etc.
Florence, Bonaccorsi, 1496 (Hain 10103; BMC VI 675; Harisse 17; Sabin 41607; JCB I p 24; Riccardi Vol 2: 41.1) Small quarto, newly bound in old, plain vellum. 65 (of 72) nn leaves. Leaves a1 and a2 with marginal restorations, incl. some letters in manuscript. Seven leaves in good facsimile on old paper. Heavily but well restored copy.
Five books in one volume. Contains an early TO worldmap (Shirley nr 1; Campbell nr 86) and is a very early Americana. Extremely rare.
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