Cosmography. POMPONIUS MELA. De situ orbis. Lot n° 1

POMPONIUS MELA. De situ orbis.Venice, Franz Renner de Hailbrun, 1478 In 4to. Modern binding in full vellum. Papers 48 unnumbered, with 26 lines. Marks: a-f8. Title at paper a1r "Pomponij Melle cosmographi de situ orbis liber primus ..."; Colophon at paper f8v "Impressum est hoc opusculum Venetijs per Franciscum renner de Hailbrun, 1478". Roman typeface, Woodcut initials, titles and subtitles printed in red and black. Cancelled stamp of the Royal Bavarian Library, Munich. Fine copy. Rare Venetian edition. Printed work in round letters, adorned with four titles and subtitles in red and four large initials impressed in woodcut. Mela's Cosmographia, in three books, is the earliest surviving Latin work on geography and the only treatise devoted exclusively to that subject in classical Latin: it gives the most complete picture of the state of geography in the first century A.D. and describes the entire known world at the time. . This work exerted considerable influence on later authors, in part through extensive citations in Pliny's Historia naturalis where Mela is cited as an important authority. The publications of Mela and Claudius Ptolemy were incentives for further exploration, and in particular Mela's descriptions of Africa were used by Portuguese navigators venturing into the Atlantic for the first time. DSB: "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." Provenance: Royal Bavarian Library, Munich, cancelled stamp; Collection Quatremère (1859, no. 2136).ISTC im00450000; BMC V:195; JCB (3)I:9; Hain 11017; Goff M450; HC 11017*; Klebs 675.4; Pell Ms 7814 (7755); CIBN M-282; Neveu 424. In 4to. Modern vellum. 48 leaves, 26 lines. Collation: A-F8. Gothic type, printed marginalia. Headings printed in red. 5- and 4-line white-on-black woodcut initial. Leaf A1r, title "Pomponij Melle Cosmogrami de situ orbis Liber primus..."; Colophon on leaf F8v: "Impressum est hoc opusculum Venetijs for Franciscum Renner de Hailbrun, 1478". Italic type, woodcut initials, title and undertitles printed in red and black. Canceled stamp of the Bavarian Royal Library, Munich. Fine copy. Rare Venetian edition. Work printed in round letters, adorned with four titles and undertitles in red and four large woodcut initials. The Mela's Cosmography, in three books, is the first Latin work that survived the geography and the only treatise devoted exclusively to that topic in classical Latin: it offers the most complete summary of the state of geography in the first century after Christ and describes the whole world known at the time. This work exercised a considerable influence on subsequent authors, in part through the large quotes in the Historia Naturalis of Pliny where Mela is cited as an important authority. The publications of Mela and Ptolemy were incentives for further explorations, and in particular the descriptions of Africa were used by the Portuguese navigators who ventured for the first time into the Atlantic. DSB: "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. "Provenance: Bavaria Royal Library, Munich, (canceled stamp); Collection Quatremère (1859, no. 2136).