Description
1r-133v: Ptolemaeus, Claudius, sec. II Cosmographia [libri I-VIII]. Interpretation Latina Iacobi Angeli sec. XV
The Vatican Apostolic Library counts among its bibliographic treasures with one of these works, not in the original Greek text but in the Latin translation of Jacobo Angeli da Scarpezia. This manuscript belonged to the bibliophile Pope Alexander VII (Sig. Urb. Lat. 274). A 5 stars in all Great Library!
During the medieval period and the Renaissance, a series of works of geography of the known world, essential for travel and commercial transactions, took its name from the famous Egyptian geographer Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria at the time of the Ptolemy. 2nd century.
The original copy can be classified as a masterpiece not only for the quality of the text and rigor in the drawing of the maps, but for the material used: first quality parchment dyed in different colors, abundance of gold leaf for titles and frames, ink of gold for initial paragraphs and titles, representation of the winds with human heads, etc.
It is formed by 133 folios of parchment of 30 x 44.5 cm, and was written in round humanistic handwriting in the city of Florence in the 15th century. Apart from the explanatory text, 30 maps are included: a planisphere of the Old World, 13 maps of Europe (to which were added three more precise and developed maps as Ptolemy did: modern Spain, Northern Europe, modern Italy), 4 from Africa and 12 from Asia, warning that a map is usually developed on several pages.
Already in the sixteenth century a second planisphere was added to the codex that included the newly discovered lands of the American continent.
Among the illustrations of the manuscript we must highlight the miniature that is made of the geographer Ptolemy inside a capital of Folio 2, where he appears with a book and a compass in his hand.
Facsimile edition of the year 2005, limited to 900 venal copies, numbered and certified by the Library and by the Editor, made by one of the best Spanish publishers in this type of work. Hand-bound facsimile in red goatskin on board, stamped in gold on both sides, format 32 x 46 cm. 268 pages. Texts with initials and paragraphs in gold ink, illuminations with gold leaf and gold ink. Maps in cartivana to observe them without folds. Gold silk guide ribbon.
Accompanied by a 172-page study book, by De Louis Duval-Arnould, honorary Scriptor of the Vatican Library. Hardcover binding, illustrated and gilded, format 23.5 x 32 cm.
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