Clavdii Ptolemaei geographiae.

Accession number: 
PML 17
Author: 
Ptolemy, active 2nd century.
Published: 
Impressum fuit et completum Rome : arte et impensis Petri de Turre, .M.CCCC.LXXX. die .IV. Novembris [4 November 1490].
Description: 
[174] leaves : illustrations (engraved maps) ; 42.5 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1906.
Notes: 

Title from tabula incipit, leaf a2r: Clavdii Ptolemaei geographiae liber primvs haec habet.
Imprint from colophon, leaf ²c5r: Hoc opvs Ptholomei memorabile qvidem et insigne exactissima diligentia castigatvm ivcondo qvodam caractere impressvm fvit et completvm Rome anno a nativitate domini .M.CCCC.LXXX. die .IV. Novembris. Arte ac impensis Petri de Tvrre.
Signatures: A-C⁸ D-E⁶; a¹⁰ b-g⁸ h⁴; [i-o⁸ p⁶]; ²a-b⁸ ²c⁶: 174 leaves, leaves A1, E6, a1, and ²c6 blank.
Paper format: Royal folio.
Translated by Jacobus Angelus. Edited by Nicolaus Germanus.
27 copper-engraved maps.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 40.2 x 28.5 cm.
PML copy bound: a¹⁰ b-g⁸ h⁴; A-C⁸ D-E⁶; [i-o⁸ p⁶]; ²a-b⁸ ²c⁶. Missing 2 leaves: a1 and ²c6 (blanks).

Binding: 
16th-century French gilt-tooled (fanfare) brown calf over wooden boards (42.5 x 31 cm), sewn on 4 supports, attributed to Nicholas Eve I about 1580; later (18th century?) gilt-monogram of Mary Queen of Scots and François II, perhaps a remboîtage binding; repaired by Duprez Lahey, 1923. Marbled paper pastedowns and endleaves, with plain paper endleaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title: 

Claudii Ptolemaei geographiae

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Contemporary (Florentine?) illumination, colored initials with gold vine-tendrils and elaborate border with putti, garlands, and candelabra forms (leaf a2r) in the style of Francesco Rosselli (1445-1513) or a follower; maps hand-colored with gold highlighting. Annotations: No marginal notations in text. Contemporary manuscript alpha-numeric quire signatures on maps.

Provenance: 
Frescobaldi family, of Florence, armorial with motto: Inpero (leaf a2r and a2v); Charles Spencer (1674-1722), 3rd Earl of Sunderland, shelfmark: KK 2: 2 (front endleaf 1 verso), through inheritance to: John Winston Spencer-Churchill (1822-1883), 7th Duke of Marlborough, shelfmark: 47 F. 3 (front endleaf 1 verso), Bibliotheca Sunderlandia sale, Puttick & Simpson, part V, 22 March 1883, lot 13770, to: Bernard Quaritch, to: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-1897), bequeathed to: Sir Charles Hercules Read (1857-1929); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased from Hercules Read (through J. Pearson & Co.), Nov. 1906.
Classification: 
Incunable Collection
Catalog Link: 
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Genres: 
Leather bindings (Binding)
Gold tooled bindings (Binding)
Fanfare bindings (Binding)
Remboîtage (Binding)
Department: 
Printed Books