Ptolemee, Claude. - Lot 131

Ptolemee, Claude. Claudii Ptolemaei geographicae enarrationis libri octo Bilibaldo Pirckeym hero interprete Annotationes Ioannis de Regio Monte in errores commissos a Iacobo Angelo in translatione sua. Strasbourg, Johann Grüninger, Johann Koberger, 1525. 1 vol. in-folio. Cold-stamped saddle-skin over wood, spine ribbed, author handwritten on spine, bronze clasps of the period. 82 ff + 14 ff. Signatures : a - m6, n4, o - p6, q8 then 34 ff. Signatures : a - e6, f4 + 50 plates (of which 49 are double and 1 single - card 47) explained on verso. Wonderful edition by the famous printer Johannes Grüninger in Strasbourg in 1525. The work is composed of an impressive xylographed title leaf, large lettering and diagrams. The work has been entirely enhanced in period colours: title at the top of each leaf, framing, lettering. Remarkable suite of 50 double-page maps (except for a single one on the back of a double) in period colours: maps of the World, America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Crete, the Rhine province, Alsace and Lorraine, England, Spain, etc. The maps are woodcut. The texts on the back of the maps are richly illustrated with woodcut culs-de-lampe, vignettes and decorations. Marginal annotations from folio C1 to folio E4, then a few annotations in the margins of the map sheets. Handwritten bookplate repeated on the title: Alban Jaupitre 1587, numerous times rewritten on the counterpads and on the endpaper, repeated in the margin of map 49. The members of the Jaupitre family, originally from Bourges, were aldermen of Bourges and preservers of the royal privileges of the city's university. The book has remained in the same family since the 16th century. Stains and wormholes on the boards, missing the top cap, the binding straps, wear and tear on the cuts and corners. Traces of a bookplate on the back cover. Small wormholes in the margins and in the text. On folio E2, tear in the inner margin without missing, missing the upper corner and slightly missing in the margin. E5: missing upper corner (torn but present), small missing upper margin, with damage to title of folio and unskilled restoration of a tear at top of inner margin. Paint stain at top of leaf L1. From leaf o1 onwards, traces of wetness in the upper part of the leaves. Booklets p and q contain the Annotationes Ioannis de Regio Monte. They are without ornamentation. Defects to the paper of these two quires: p1 tear in lower margin, spotting and foxing, with small wormholes. Index: folio a1. Small wetness in upper margin, then in quires c and e, wetness in lower then upper part. Tear without loss to the map "Tabula V. Europae". Repair in the inner margin of the "Tabula IIII. Asiae". Ink stain in upper margin of map "Ta. Mo. Galliae"- 31. Folio 6 numbered 12, folio 47 numbered 48, folio 71 numbered 72. Folios 78, 79 and folios 80, 81 have been reversed. Folio 71 is unnumbered. Despite the minor flaws mentioned, this is a first-rate copy in period binding and colouring.