Strabo (ca. 64 BCE – ca. 23 CE) ; Text by Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614); Map by Rumold Mercator (1559-1614) after Gerard Mercator (1512-1594)

Strabonis Rerum Geographicarum Libri XVII. Isaacus Casabonus recensuit, summoque studio & diligentia, ope etiam veterum codicum, emendavit, ac Commentariis illustravit. Accessit & Tabula Orbis totius descriptionem complectens. Adiecta est etiam Guilielmi Xylandri Augustani Latina versio, cum necessariis Indicibus. [With ] Isaaci Casauboni Commentarius et Castigationes ad lib. Strabonis Geograph. XVII. S. l... First edition with the Mercator World Map .

Geneva: Eustathius Vignon, 1587. Folio. 34 x 21 cm. Original contemporary stiff vellum with 6 raised bands. [2], viii, 602, [10], 224pp. Two columns printed in Latin and Greek in the first part and Latin only in the second part. Waterstain in the lower right corner throughout. The map is bound in front of page 1 and is in fine and fresh condition...
This unique map was first printed as part of Isaac Casaubon’s edition of Strabo’s Geographia in 1587. In this, the first printing there are columns of text underneath rhe map with the heading, “Lectori S. P.” In later editions the map was included in the well known Mercator atlas, which Rumold compiled. In 1603, the plate developed cracks in the top edge of the plate; two distinct cracks can be seen in the title....The preeminent example of Rumold Mercator’s map of the world, first printed in this edition in Geneva in 1587. It is based on Gerard Mercator’s celebrated 1569 world map and was made while Gerard was still alive (1512- 1594). This is the only collectible world map with direct input from Gerard Mercator, the greatest geographer of his era. Both his 1538 and 1569 world maps are unobtainable rarities....

The present work is a reduced version of the 1569 wall map of the world, on which the revolutionary Mercator Projection was introduced. This edition makes the map into a double-hemisphere format, rather than the projection style....

To the left is the western hemisphere. The prominent bulge in South America, a characteristic introduced by Gerard Mercator and evident on his 1569 world map, has been retained here. Tierra del Fuego forms part of a gigantic southern continent that continues in the eastern hemisphere. At the north pole, two of the four islands that Gerard Mercator thought surrounded the pole are evident. There is also a suggestion of a Northwest Passage via the Straits of Anian....
Isaac Casaubon, (1559, Geneva —died July 1, 1614, London). French classical scholar and theologian who was one of the leading scholars of the era.
He was born in Geneva on 18th February 1559, a son of Huguenot parents Arnaud and Jeanne. He was educated at the university in his home town and taught Greek there. His first wife was Marie Prolyst but she and their daughter died. In 1586 in Geneva he married Florence, daughter of Henry Estienne and they had seventeen children, of whom about half did not survive infancy. His first major published work was on the Greek geographer Strabo and many other works followed. The invitation to come to England seems to have come from Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury. Isaac was later made a prebendary of Canterbury but died in London on 1st July 1614...
References: This first edition not in OCLC.
Shirley, The Mapping of the World - Early Printed World Maps 1472 - 1700, Nr. 157; van der Krogt, Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, Vol. I, 0001:1A; Adams S-1908; Graesse VI:505. (Map) Koeman Me12; Moreland & Bannister p. 243; Shirley 157; Wagner Northwest Coast 146 .... In-folio, reliure de l’époque vélin, dos à 6 nerfs, titre à l’encre dans le caisson de tête. Qq. taches, petites déchirures (nerfs et coiffe inférieure), coins usés. (8)-602-(2 bl.)-(8)-223 pp. et planisphère à double page rempliée. Trace de mouillure dans la partie inférieure droite sur tout l’ouvrage, marquée sur le premier quart puis s’amenuisant et s’estompant jusqu’à la fin du volume. Planisphère en belle condition (mouillure à peine visible, pas de déchirure, impression contrastée). Exemplaire complet des deux pages de titre gravées sur bois à décor identique de cariatides soutenant une couronne et de la planisphère (Orbis Terrae Compendiosa Descriptio) gravée par Rumold Mercator d’après la carte de son père Gérard Mercator et légendée en latin...
Expertise by Christine CHATON
Expertise en livres anciens et modernes (C.N.E.S.), 17100 SAINTES. Item #51-4179

Price: $14,500.00