Ptolemaeus auctus restitutus, emaculatus, cum tabulis veteribus ac nouis.
Claudius Ptolemy (100-c.170)
Category
Books
Date
1520
Materials
Measurements
467 x 336 x 51 mm
Place of origin
Strasbourg
Collection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 3230638
Summary
Full description
Orientation: Vertical Text Substrate: handmade laid paper Ink/Pigment: printed in red and black printing inks, the maps hand-colouredType: BOUND BOOK Binding Type: Inboard binding, raised supports Date of Binding: 17.4Binder's Name: Low CountriesEnd Leaves: sewn 2-leaf outside hook endleaf of plain, white handmade laid paper, the stubs and outer leaf pasted to the board.Structure: English Edges: plain cut, sponge decorated in green and red, polished Spine Lining: moderate round, quadrant joints, transverse textile spine linings. End Bands: worked 2x2 L-R in green and white thread with a front bead over a rolled paper coreBookmark: NoneBoards: 6mm couched laminate paper boards; back-cornered; all slips laced perpendicularly through two holesCovering: full brown tanned calf, densely sprinkled with a black pigment.Tooling Spine: panels 1, 3, 4, 5, 6,7 and 8 gold-tooled with conrer and centre tools, titled on a red leather label in panel 2Tooling Sides: gold-tooled roll on board edges. Furniture: NoneEnclosure: NoneBinding Notes: the binding replaced an earlier one in which the folding plates was sewn through a fold along one vertical edge, with the plates folded to fit within the width of the text leaves.
Bibliographic description
54 [i.e. 57] leaves, [47] leaves of plates (45 double, 2 single) : ill., maps ; fol. Running number: 7887. Imperfect: world map "Generale Ptholemei" and map of Greece "Decima et ultima tabula Europae" both torn along centre fold with one half missing (the right-hand half in both instances); these two maps are bound-in as single, folded leaves. Wanting map "Tabula moderna Indiae". Leaf I5 is reversed, i.e. with verso as recto and vice-versa. Foot of title page cut off, presumably to remove a mark of ownership, and repaired with blank paper. Death watch beetle damage at foot of all leaves except for final three maps and rear endpapers; damage extensive on some leaves of text, with loss of printed text; repaired with Japanese tissue paper (2018). Mould damage and water staining throughout, somewhat removed (2018). Scrap of late eighteenth-century newspaper ca. 1798 used as bookmark between double map 'Sexta Asie Tabula'. Many maps have evidence of a previous binding in which the folded maps were sewn through a fold along one vertical edge. Maps numbered in manuscript in eighteenth-century hand on verso, trimmed off by the binder in some cases. Provenance: manuscript inscription on title page: "Johannes Prüss ... [illegible]" [possibly Johann Prüss (fl. 1511-1551), printer in Strasbourg]. Manuscript marginal annotations in sixteenth-century hand (Johann Prüss?) on leaves A2v-A4, B1v, B3v (with a manicule), B4v, C1v, C3 (with a manicule), C4r, C5v, D3v, D5r, E2r, E3r, E4r, F1r, F3r and I4v, with some underscoring of text. Manuscript diagram with names of some countries in ink on verso of map 'Tabula moderna Norbegie et Gottie'. Manuscript names of two cities "Amsterdam" and "Hamborg", plus a doodle design, in sixteenth-century hand on verso of map 'Tabula moderna Germanie'. Binding: late seventeenth-century Low Countries full sprinkled calf; sewn on seven double cords; gilt floral roll pattern along board edges; gold-tooled spine, with roll and stamp decoration in seven panels and gilt title 'Ptolemaeus' on brown leather label in second panel; sponge mottling in green and red on bookblock edges. Both covers water-stained. Binding repaired (2018).
Makers and roles
Claudius Ptolemy (100-c.170), author Essler, Jacob, editor Übelin, Georg, editor Jacopo D'Angelo, editor Waldseemüller, Martin (b.1470), cartographer Ringmann, Matthias, cartographer Johann Ulrich Wechtlin (c.1480-85 - c.1526), artist Johann Schott (1477-1548), printer Übelin, Georg, publisher