Lot 2
Botero, Giovanni
Relationi universali
£2,750
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 13 July 2022 from 10:00 BST
Description
novamente reviste, corrette, et ampliate. Et aggiontovi in questa ultima impressione la figurata descrittione intagliata in rame, di tutti i paesi del mondo. Brescia: Compagnia Bresciana, 1599. 4 parts in 1 volume, 4to (21.5 x 16.2cm), contemporary limp vellum, (contemporary manuscript spine- and catch-titles), engraved general title-page, letterpress title-pages each with woodcut device to parts 2-4, 110 engraved maps in the text, medial blank c4 retained, toning, a few marks, engraved title-page (sig. †1) loose, frayed along fore margin, remaining leaves of initial quire (†2-4) absent, damp-staining to a few early leaves in part I (quires c-A), part 1 f. 2G2 torn at lower fore corner not affecting text, part 2 f. A3 with short closed tear in fore margin, browning to quires L-M [Adams B2559; Edit16 CNCE 7301; this edition not in Sabin]
Footnote
Note: Botero's hugely influential encyclopaedia of the countries and peoples of the world was first published in Rome between 1591 and 1596. His sources included Acosta for Spanish America, and Maffei for Brazil and China. The maps include China, Persia, India, Syria, Anatolia, Malta, Cyprus, the Ottoman empire, central and east Asia including Japan and a section of the New World ('Tartariae sive magni chami [sic] regni tipus'), the African empire of the mythical Prester John ('Presbiteri Johannis sive Abissinorum imperii descriptio'), and the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. (The maps of China and Persia are duplicated in parts I and II.)
