Geographiae libri octo Graeco-Latini. Amsterdam: Cornelis Nicolai and Jodocus Hondius, 1605.

Claudius Ptolomaeus (c.100-c.178)
Geographiae libri octo Graeco-Latini. Amsterdam: Cornelis Nicolai and Jodocus Hondius, 1605.
The first edition of Mercator’s Ptolemy, Geographia, with the Greek text in parallel with the Latin. The maps are printed from unaltered plates of Mercator’s first edition (1578) of the Geographia; verses by Daniel Heinsius, P. Vertius and J. Gruterus are among the preliminary matter. 'The Ptolemy edition of 1605 is the first work printed in Greek in Amsterdam, and is a typographic masterpiece': Van der Krogt 1:511; Koeman Me 3.

Folio (425 x 280mm). Greek and Latin text, title imprint naming Amsterdam only [Van der Krogt 1:511C], engraved title, half-page engraved portrait of Mercator, 28 engraved maps on guards, all but one double-page, woodcut text diagrams, ornamental tailpieces (uniform browning, neat marginal repair in two leaves). Contemporary red morocco gilt, arabesque central ornament within fillet and roll-tool frames, single ornament in spine compartments, remains of silk ties (discreet repairs at spine, some stains).

Georg ?Rechner (early inscription on title) – Johann Meier (inscription dated Berlin 1711) – world map with a few ?18th-century marginal annotations – E. Rödiger (18/19th-century inscription).

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